NEW YORK - Paul Wilson made a successful return to Shea Stadium.

Wilson defeated the New York Mets - his former team - for the first time, and Jose Guillen hit a tiebreaking homer in the fifth inning to lead the Cincinnati Reds over the New York Mets 8-5.

''I'll always have a special place in my heart for New York. This where I first pitched in the big leagues and I wish things had worked out differently,'' Wilson said.

Wilson (6-8) made his second start and third career appearance against the team that selected him with the first pick of the 1994 amateur draft. Traded by the Mets to Tampa Bay in July 2000, he signed with Cincinnati in January.

Wilson was 3-4 at Shea for the Mets in 1996, his first season in the majors but was 5-12 overall, had surgery on his right shoulder after the 1997 season, missed all of '98 after elbow surgery, was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000 and signed with the Reds in January.

''At the start, he was a little nervous,'' Reds manager Bob Boone said. ''He threw that ball away in the first, (but) he's thrown well for us several times this year.''

Wilson contributed a throwing error to the two-run Mets first inning but finished by allowing five runs and eight hits in seven innings, after falling behind 2-1 in the first.

''In that first inning, I felt like I had to go out and get loose again,'' Wilson said. ''I felt I got better.''

Felix Heredia pitched the eighth, and Scott Williamson finished for his 21st save in 26 chances.

Guillen had three RBIs, Aaron Boone had three hits for the Reds and Adam Dunn hit his 26th homer of the season.

Steve Trachsel (9-7) gave up six runs

and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings.

With the score 2-all, Guillen hit a two-run homer off Trachsel, his 22nd of the season and second in three games. Guillen had watched Trachsel pitch for Tampa Bay three years ago.

''He was a breaking-ball pitcher then. He is a breaking-ball pitcher now, and I was looking for it,'' Guillen said.

Trachsel had an RBI grounder in the fifth that closed the Mets to 4-3, but the Reds added three runs the sixth.

Juan Castro led off with a solo homer to right, Wilson doubled, David Weathers relieved and Dunn hit a two-out, two-run homer.

''I still can't believe that Castro hit that one out the opposite way. That kind of shocked me,'' Trachsel said. ''The home runs, I thought, were pretty good pitches.''

Roger Cedeno hit a two-run homer in the seventh, his first home run as a pinch hitter, cutting the lead to 7-5.

Sean Casey added an RBI single in the ninth off Pedro Feliciano.

Cincinnati had gone ahead in the third on Guillen's RBI single after an error by first baseman Tony Clark, who failed to handle a pickoff throw.

New York took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half on Jason Phillips' RBI groundout and Timo Perez's run-scoring double, but Castro's two-out RBI double tied it in the fourth.

Notes: Bob Murphy, a Mets' broadcaster since the team began in 1962, received a lengthy standing ovation from fans and players in the middle of the sixth inning when it was announced that he intends to retire at the end of the season. … The start was the 300th of Trachsel's career. … Reds won the weekend series 2-1, but lost the season series 4-2.