St. Louis Cardinals
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PITTSBURGH -- For anyone else, it was a spectacular start. For Chris Carpenter, it was an off night.
Carpenter won his 10th consecutive decision as the Cards won for the 13th time in a row when he starts a game. He pitched eight innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits, striking out four and walking two. He improved to 18-4, moving one victory ahead of the Florida Marlins' Dontrelle Willis for the Major League lead.
"It's just about going out there and giving my team a chance to win," Carpenter said. "It's not about my wins or anything else. Fortunately, our guys gave up less runs than we scored in the games I've pitched, and that gives me wins. So it's been nice."
The three earned runs Carpenter allowed matched the most he has allowed since May 7, when the San Diego Padres scored five. Since his last loss on June 8, he has been unable to reach the eighth inning only once.
"He was challenging hitters, going after them in the strike zone," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He missed a couple times, but he came back to throw quality strikes. He's a true horse. We are going to ride him as long as we can."
The victory gave La Russa 2,194 in his career, tying him with Sparky Anderson for third place on the all-time list.
"He's accomplished a lot of great things," Carpenter said. "He deserves everything he's gotten." "The best part about this is it brings attention to a great, great man, and that's Sparky," La Russa said of the former Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers manager. "I like that part about it. Nobody treated me better. I was treated well by everyone, but Sparky was wonderful."
John Rodriguez had two hits, two runs and three RBIs, and David Eckstein collected three hits and two RBIs as the National League's second-highest scoring offense broke out of a mini-slump.
Carpenter had a 5-0 lead before he even took the mound. Larry Walker opened the scoring when his single scored Eckstein, who had reached on a single and two-base error by right fielder Nate McLouth. It was the 1,300th RBI of Walker's career.
Rodriguez drove in Walker and Albert Pujols, and Yadier Molina drove in Jim Edmonds with singles to right field to make it 4-0 Cards.
After Hector Luna flew out, Pittsburgh starter Kip Wells (7-13) walked Carpenter and permitted an RBI single to Eckstein. That ended Wells' night.
"With the way Carp's been throwing the ball, just unbelievably, he gives you a good shot to win every single time he steps on the mound," Eckstein said. "Giving him a five-run lead, we knew we had a good shot."
Pittsburgh got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when a Rob Mackowiak single scored Chris Duffy. The Pirates added another three innings later when Mackowiak doubled to score Brad Eldred.
"Early on, my command with my fastball wasn't very good," Carpenter said. "I was struggling to hit the strike zone. Fortunately, as the game went on, I felt better and the breaking ball was pretty good and everything, and for the most part, I made pitches when I had to make pitches. And my team scored eight runs, which was enough to win."
Rodriguez made it 6-2 St. Louis when he homered to right-center field with one out in the fifth. It was the first Cardinals home run in a season-high 40 innings. The last time a Cardinal hit a home run was during the ninth inning of Friday night's game against the San Francisco Giants, when Yadier Molina hit a three-run shot off Tyler Walker.
"It was a fastball, and I was trying to put some good wood on it, hit it hard somewhere," Rodriguez said. "And it went out."
The Pirates moved to within three in the seventh when Ty Wigginton's groundout scored Mackowiak. But the Cards got that run right back in their half of the eighth on an Eckstein triple that plated Luna to make it 7-3.
Pujols homered for the first time in 11 days when he took Jose Mesa deep to right with nobody on in the ninth. He also entered the game with no runs in his last six starts, a season-high. The first baseman has 34 home runs on the season. It marked the first multi-homer game for the Cards since Aug. 7 against the Atlanta Braves.
The victory followed a pregame skirmish in which Cards pitching coach Dave Duncan was involved in a heated discussion with Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon and hitting coach Gerald Perry. Video of the scene, which took place while the Pirates were leaving the field after their batting practice and before the Redbirds were about to begin theirs, showed Perry shoving Duncan's head back.
The argument began when Duncan approached Rick White to ask him if the Pittsburgh reliever had intentionally thrown at St. Louis second baseman Luna the night before. The quarrel escalated from there and ended with La Russa and McClendon in a calm, 10-minute discussion behind the batting cage. "The great thing about this club is we are able to put that stuff behind us and approach every single game the same," Eckstein said. "You've got to forget about it. If you let your emotions take over when you step on that field, it's not a good sight, so fortunately we put all that behind us and went out there and played a good game."