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Bartolo Colon was dejected after allowing Jack Wilson's homer, the eventual game-winner. (Gene J. Puskar)

Sure, the Angels lost their fourth consecutive series and dropped their ninth game in their last 12.

And sure, the Angels don't exactly have an easy schedule coming up, with a trip to Houston over the weekend followed by what figure to be hotly contested series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (home and away), Oakland A's and Chicago White Sox.

But manager Mike Scioscia is all about accentuating the positive, and there were a few positives to be taken out of this otherwise unsuccessful Pennsylvania swing.

The first -- and most important -- was the resurgence of Colon, the pitcher signed for four years and $51 million in the offseason and anointed as the team's unquestioned ace.

Since Colon started the season with three wins and a 2.33 ERA in his first four starts, he had compiled a 1-4 record with an 8.27 ERA in his last nine outings heading into Thursday's matchup with Pirates righty Kris Benson.

Colon had given up 13 homers in those nine games and 18 overall this year, tops in the American League.

On Thursday, he added to the homer total by giving up three solo shots, but he also made a statement that things might be looking better for his -- and his team's -- future.

For starters, Colon tallied his first quality start since May 8, a span of seven outings. In fact, he was cruising through the first six innings, having allowed only one run on a Rob Mackowiak homer in the fourth.

And on a night with 80-degree temperature and stifling humidity, Colon threw harder as he got deeper into the game, another good sign.

"Bart's stuff was there and I thought his command was there," Scioscia said. "He didn't make any mistakes."

Even though he entered the seventh with a 2-1 lead and gave up the game-tying and game-winning homers to Tike Redman and Jack Wilson, respectively, Colon hit 96 mph on the radar gun right before he uncorked his 97th and final pitch of the night.

Two outings ago, that seemed unlikely.

Colon was coming off a 4 1/3-inning, seven-run effort against Cleveland at home, and after that outing, Colon worked with pitching coach Bud Black to iron out a mechanical flaw related to an old ankle injury that caused Colon to shorten his stride.

Colon didn't look to have corrected it much in his next start, a 10-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs at home in which he gave up six runs on nine hits -- including three homers -- in six innings.

Scioscia, however, insisted that Colon improved that night, and on Thursday he proved his manager correct.

"I felt much, much better, but overall it's not like I've felt bad," Colon said through an interpreter. "I felt good that I felt strong going into the seventh and coming out of it."

The problem for the Angels was that Benson was just a bit better.

Benson retired the first 12 batters of the game, not giving up a hit until Garret Anderson led off the fifth inning with a double. Anderson scored two batters later when Darin Erstad punched a single up the middle, tying the game at 1-1.

Anderson started the Angels' only other rally in the seventh, stroking a one-out single that skirted off center fielder Redman's glove for a two-base error that landed Anderson on third. He scored right away when Jose Guillen bounced an RBI single over drawn-in shortstop Wilson.

Benson pitched a season-high eight innings, giving up two runs -- one earned -- on five hits while striking out eight batters. He did it all with 99 pitches and made the Angels look more and more vulnerable without leadoff man David Eckstein in the lineup.

"Over the course of some time, I'm sure it has had a bit of an effect," Adam Kennedy said of Eckstein's absence. The shortstop has missed most of the last two weeks with a strained right hamstring.

"We'd like to keep playing and not skipping a beat, but it's not happening right now."

The Pirates got two insurance runs when Redman took reliever Kevin Gregg deep in the eighth, hitting a two-run homer to right field for his first career multi-homer game. Closer Jose Mesa shut the door on the Angels with a scoreless ninth for the save.

After the game, Scioscia came to the conclusion that the Angels' bats need to match Colon's improvement.

"Bart's got to carry that momentum over to his next start and we've got to support him offensively more," Scioscia said.

Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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