NewsCarpenter's gem puts Cards in tie for first
Starter three-hits Reds; Pujols homers, drives in three
By B.J. Rains / MLB.com
06/05/09 12:30 AM ET
ST. LOUIS -- Chris Carpenter has had some pretty good seasons during his 12-year career as a Major League pitcher. Quietly, he may be putting together one of his best yet.The St. Louis right-hander went the distance on Thursday night, facing one over the minimum as he improved to 4-0 on the season with a 3-1 victory over the Reds at Busch Stadium.
With the Brewers losing to the Marlins earlier Thursday night, the Cardinals moved back into a tie for first place atop the NL Central.
The former NL Cy Young Award winner needed just 95 pitches and allowed one run on three hits to finish with the 26th complete game of his career and his first since Sept. 21, 2006.
"It's a pleasure to watch him," said manager Tony La Russa. "He's amazing."
Carpenter has now allowed three earned runs in 38 innings this season, good for a 0.71 ERA. He didn't pitch from April 14 to May 20 because of a strained oblique, but picked up right where he left off when he returned. In six starts in 2009, Carpenter has 31 strikeouts and just five walks.
On Thursday against the Reds, Carpenter pitched out of the stretch to two hitters. His strikeout of Ramon Hernandez in the second inning was the 1,200th of his career.
"He's tied for first," La Russa said. "There's never been a better pitcher.
"I don't think anybody pitching today is better. He's right up there with [Blue Jays right-hander Roy] Halladay and the best ones out there. Carp's right there."
Providing the offensive support for Carpenter was the Cardinals offensive ace, Albert Pujols. The slugger accounted for all three St Louis runs. He hit his 17th home run of the season in the third inning, a two-run shot, and added an RBI double in the sixth. His hardest hit ball of the day may have been his lineout to third baseman Jerry Hairston in the eighth.
Aaron Harang pitched an eight-inning complete game for Cincinnati, striking out four and scattering eight hits. Coincidentally, the last time the Reds were involved in a game that featured complete games by both starters, Harang beat Carpenter, 1-0, on Aug. 26, 2004, at the old Busch Stadium.
Pujols entered with a .280 career average against Harang in 50 at-bats, but his two-out blast in the third put the Cardinals up for good.
"He's going to come right after you," Pujols said of the Cincinnati right-hander. "We wanted to be aggressive and put good swings, and we didn't score a lot of runs, but Carp made some good pitches. They have a pretty good ballclub. One hit here or there, and all of a sudden you make a mistake, and it's a tie ballgame, but Carp really stayed focused the whole time.
"I've been having fun the last seven years watching him do the same thing over and over again when he's healthy. This was nothing new for me."
Pujols has been putting up some impressive numbers himself lately. In addition to having an extra-base hit in six straight games, the slugger has reached base at least two times in each of the past 15 games, a streak that, according to baseball-reference.com, has been topped only once since 1954 -- by a guy named Stan Musial, who reached base twice in 16 straight games from April 17 to May 7, 1958.
Carpenter has won 20 games in a season, a Cy Young Award, the Comeback Player of the Year Award and has started an All-Star Game. Despite his month-long absence, his start to 2009 could end up trumping them all.
But none of that matters to the always humble Carpenter, who was working on a shutout until Laynce Nix crushed a solo shot into the right-field seats with two outs in the eighth. The most important stat to him is always the same -- the win.
"That ball that I threw to Nix was the worst one I threw all night," Carpenter said. "But that's OK. A win is a win, and that's what we're looking for. We're just trying to win ballgames, and we were able to do that.
"It's another nice game, but it's all about winning."
And with the combination of Pujols and a healthy Carpenter, the Cardinals look like they will continue doing just that.
B.J. Rains is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
