Carpenter, Cardinals Stop Padres

Chris Carpenter had no trouble becoming the National League’s first 15-game winner, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the struggling San Diego Padres, 11-3, on Thursday at San Diego.

Carpenter had plenty of help. Jim Edmonds hit a three-run homer and tied his career high with five RBIs. John Rodriguez also homered, and Albert Pujols had three hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the matchup of division leaders.

“My goal is to go out there and get zeros as long as I can and give my team a chance to win, and I did it today and we played a good game,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter (15-4) held the Padres to three runs and five hits in seven innings to join Jon Garland of the Chicago White Sox as the only 15-game winners in the majors.

He improved to 8-0 in eight road starts and won his seventh straight decision.

By scoring three runs in the second inning, the Padres matched the number of runs Carpenter yielded in 59 1/3 innings in his previous seven starts. He threw three shutouts during that span.

The Padres continued to lack clutch hitting as they lost for the 32nd time in 50 games since June 1. They dropped back to .500 (51-51) and had their lead in the West Division cut to two games over Arizona.

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Arizona 6, Chicago 0 -- Rookie Brad Halsey pitched six innings of four-hit ball, and Luis Gonzalez and Chad Tracy homered to lead the Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field.

Halsey (7-7) won his third straight decision. Tim Worrell pitched a scoreless seventh, Jose Valverde struck out the side in the eighth and Greg Aquino worked the ninth to complete the five-hitter.

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Florida 3, Pittsburgh 0 -- Dontrelle Willis threw seven shutout innings for his first win in four starts, lifting the Marlins at Miami. The Marlins scored twice in the seventh on Juan Encarnacion’s RBI double and Mike Lowell’s sacrifice fly, and that was enough for Willis (14-6), who held the Pirates to three hits.

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San Francisco 3, Milwaukee 0 -- Brad Hennessey (4-3) pitched seven scoreless innings and helped himself by hitting a three-run home run at Milwaukee. The Brewers’ Victor Santos (3-11) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but Hennessey hit a 2-0 pitch for his first home run in 30 career at-bats.

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Houston 3, New York 2 -- Brad Ausmus singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Astros the victory. Orlando Palmeiro began the winning rally with a single off Roberto Hernandez (5-4), then moved to second on a sacrifice. Ausmus lined the first pitch he saw to right-center.

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Atlanta 5, Washington 4 -- Rookie Jeff Francoeur homered twice, Marcus Giles hit a two-run double in a three-run fourth inning, and the Braves completed a three-game sweep at Atlanta.

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Philadelphia 8, Colorado 5 -- Pinch-hitter Tomas Perez drove in David Bell for the tiebreaking run with a two-out infield single in the ninth inning at Coors Field. Chase Utley homered and had a career-high five RBIs for the Phillies.