St. Louis ? The Pittsburgh Pirates got tired of being pushed around by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Kris Benson allowed one hit in seven innings and the Pirates, who had lost six straight to St. Louis, homered a season-best five times in an 8-0 victory Tuesday night. They’d been outscored 52-25 in the six games.

Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson fires a pitch in the first inning. The Arizona ace was denied his 19th win of the season, but the Diamondbacks still beat the Reds, 5-3.

Brian Giles, Craig Wilson, Adam Hyzdu, Aramis Ramirez and Rob Mackowiak homered and Jason Kendall had a three-run double for the Pirates, who have won only four of their last 14.

“They thumped us at home,” Hyzdu said. “It’s tough to get waxed four days in a row, so it’s definitely nice to flip the coin once in a while.”

Kerry Robinson got the lone hit for the Cardinals, a blooper to left-center with one out in the first. The NL Central leaders have won nine of last 11, and had outscored their opponents 21-4 the previous four games.

“I think it’s a case where they did everything better than we did and you tip your cap,” manager Tony La Russa said.

The only other baserunner allowed by Benson (5-6) was a one-out walk to Scott Rolen in the second. After that he retired the last 17 batters he faced.

“Even if you throw a no-hitter, it seems like guys always break it up with a little bleeder,” Benson said. “So you give up one hit and it’s like that, but I’ll definitely take it.”

Benson, who struck out four and walked one, has a 1.14 ERA in his victories and a 14.48 ERA in his losses. He had been 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in his previous five outings.

Cubs 14, Astros 12

Houston Corey Patterson tied a career high with four hits and drove in three runs as Chicago got a season-high 24 hits to beat Houston.

Every Cubs position player had at least two hits except Bill Mueller. Fred McGriff, Alex Gonzalez and Roosevelt Brown each drove in two runs.

The teams combined for 40 hits, an Astros record. Will Cunnane (1-0) got the win, and Antonio Alfonseca earned his 15th save.

Brewers 2, Phillies 1

Milwaukee Jamey Wright pitched into the seventh inning to beat Philadelphia for the first time in more than five years.

Jose Hernandez hit an RBI single for Milwaukee, and Robert Machado also drove in a run.

Wright (5-12) allowed six hits in 6 1/3 innings to beat Philadelphia for the first time since May 3, 1997, with Colorado.

Padres 6, Braves 2

San Diego Brett Tomko pitched a seven-hitter for his second complete game this season and Ron Gant had his first two-homer game in more than two years as San Diego beat Atlanta.

Tomko (7-8) had been 0-2 with a 7.01 ERA lifetime against Atlanta.

Rockies 8, Expos 6

Denver Denny Neagle had his fourth straight solid outing since rejoining the rotation, and Jay Payton hit a three-run homer to lead Colorado past Montreal.

Neagle (7-7) went five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs two earned. Demoted to the bullpen for a month at midseason, the left-hander is 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA in his last four starts.

Giants 1, Mets 0

San Francisco Jason Schmidt struck out his first six batters and finished a five-hitter by fanning Mike Piazza with a runner on third as San Francisco beat New York.

In one of his most impressive performances since joining the Giants late last season, Schmidt (8-6) tied a career high with 13 strikeouts and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the eighth inning.

Diamondbacks 5, Reds 3

Phoenix The Arizona bullpen cost Randy Johnson his 19th victory, but the Diamondbacks regrouped to score twice without a hit in the eighth inning to beat Cincinnati.

Johnson settled down after a wild start to strike out 12 in seven innings. He left with a 3-2 lead, but the Reds came back in the eighth.

Matt Williams drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off reliever Danny Graves.

Marlins 6, Dodgers 3

Los Angeles Juan Encarnacion homered and drove in three runs to back seven strong innings from Brad Penny (6-4) as Florida beat Los Angeles.

Kevin Brown struggled in three innings of relief for the Dodgers, who saw their lead in the NL wild-card race cut to 2 1/2 games. Kazuhisa Ishii (13-8) allowed three runs and three hits in five innings.