SAN DIEGO -- The Pirates' upper management wanted to see more of John Van Benschoten, and he showed ... well, a little more to like.

He was not wild.

He did not whacked around.

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• Game: Pirates (LHP Tom Gorzelanny 14-7, 3.45) vs. San Diego Padres (RHP Greg Maddux 12-10, 3.91), 10:05 p.m., Petco Park.
• TV/Radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
• Key matchup: Jason Bay is a .423 career hitter -- 11 for 26 -- vs. the great Maddux, with two home runs and eight RBIs.
• Of note: The Pirates have turned 174 double plays, most in Major League Baseball. That includes 13 in the past nine games.

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And, perhaps most impressive, he went five full innings, a marked improvement over his cameo-appearance routine.

But the end result of the three runs he did allow still was another loss, 3-0 to the San Diego Padres last night at Petco Park, one that dropped Van Benschoten's record to 0-6.

"He did a very adequate job," manager Jim Tracy said. "He gave us five quality innings, threw his breaking pitches for strikes and kept the game in order."

Van Benschoten gave up five hits and three walks and threw only 45 of 84 pitches for strikes.

"It was good, I thought," he said. "Pretty good."

He opened the game with a six-pitch walk to Brian Giles and, and after a sacrifice, gave up Mike Cameron's RBI double.

He set down the Padres in order the next two innings, but Adrian Gonzalez's one-out single in the fourth was followed by Khalil Greene's home run off the second tier of the metal supply building beyond left field. San Diego's lead was 3-0.

That came on a first-pitch, hanging slider.

"Obviously, I didn't want to throw it there," Van Benschoten said. "That was one mistake pitch, and the one to Cameron was another. But, if I can look back and say I misplaced three or four pitches inside the zone, I can be happy with that. Don't get me wrong: I'm not completely happy with my command. I did go to 2-0 counts on three batters in a row."

That happened in the third and fourth innings.

"But it did go a lot better than it had been going."

Management met late last week and determined that it would restore Van Benschoten to the rotation ahead of Tony Armas, even though Van Benschoten's ERA was 10.86 and even though Armas had been pitching well.

The reasons: One, Van Benschoten is out of options, meaning the Pirates must keep him on the 25-man roster after next spring training or lose him. Two, Armas' $5 million club option for 2008 has no chance of being exercised.

Van Benschoten was asked if he felt any pressure from that.

"I just worry about getting the opportunity, not the circumstances surrounding it," he said. "I really don't read into it."

As for the other two starters on the bubble, Zach Duke and Bryan Bullington: Tracy remains "open" to getting Duke one start after he missed half a season to elbow trouble. And Bullington, Tracy said, likely will stay in the bullpen because the organization wants to take it easy on his arm near the end of his first season following shoulder surgery.

"We think it's right to be careful," Tracy said.

The Pirates' offense mustered little of worth off San Diego's Jack Cassel, a September callup making his second big-league start after eight years in the minors. He did give up eight hits, but only Van Benschoten's fifth-inning double went for extra bases.

And, as third baseman Jose Bautista pointed out, "It didn't help that I grounded into two double plays."

Those came in the fifth and seventh, each time after two hits by teammates. The Pirates finished with 10 hits.

"We had baserunners," Tracy said. "We just couldn't get the follow-up hit."

Trevor Hoffman added to his saves record with his 520th, his 38th of the season, with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Pirates lost their third in a row after opening this 10-game trip with a victory.