PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) _ Mike Hampton left no doubt why the Mets brought him to New York with a sparkling performance against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

Hampton faced just 19 men during his six-inning stint, allowing a bloop single and shutting out the Orioles during the Mets 4-0 win.

Hampton allowed no hits until Jerry Hairston looped his base hit over the head of second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo with two outs in the sixth inning.

``That was an aggressive Mike Hampton at his finest,'' Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. ``We were mentioning he hadn't faced a lot of left-handers in spring and he got a lot of them tonight. He pitched them perfectly.''

The Orioles stacked their lineup with five left-handed hitters against the left-handed Hampton who was 22-4 last season with the Astros. The five were hitless in 10 at-bats.

``He had moving pitches on both sides of the plate,'' Valentine said.

Rich Rodriguez relieved Hampton and allowed a single to B.J. Surhoff in his one inning of work which was Baltimore's final hit of the night. He was followed by Dennis Cook, John Franco and Armando Benitez who each got two outs.

``Benitez was overpowering, he only threw one slider which was an ace, but his fastball was in midseason form,'' Valentine said. ``Johnny Franco looked just as good.''

Hampton, who finished the spring with a 2-2 record, received all the support he needed during New York's four-run third inning.

Todd Zeile led off with a single and moved of third on an error by shortstop Mike Bordick. Rickey Henderson walked to load the bases off Baltimore starter Jason Johnson.

Darryl Hamilton gave the Mets a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly and Alfonzo drove in two more runs with a double to right-center. Mike Piazza tripled to right field to make it 4-0.

Hampton threw 81 pitches, while striking out three and walking one. He issued a walk to Rich Amaral leading off the fourth inning, but he was caught stealing when Piazza threw him out at second.

``I was able to accomplish what I wanted to do this spring, the breaking ball and change-up are pretty much where I want them to be,'' Hampton said. ``I'm probably a little ahead of where I was in years past, my sinkers moving and I'm able to work both sides of the plate.

``I didn't walk a whole lot of guys this spring and that was one of my objectives coming in.''