ST. LOUIS (AP) - Chris Carpenter looked more like a Cy Young award winner than a .500 pitcher against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
Carpenter (9-9) pitched a four-hitter to record his 14th career shutout in the St. Louis Cardinals' 2-0 win.
Rafael Furcal provided the offense with a solo home run but Carpenter needed just 2 hours, 5 minutes for his first shutout since he blanked the Brewers 3-0 exactly two years before in Milwaukee. He struck out five and walked two, one intentional.
After losing the series opener Monday, the Cardinals won the last two to move within 81â„2 games of the first-place Brewers in the NL Central with 19 games to play.
The Cardinals are 61â„2 games behind Atlanta in the wild card race with the Braves coming Friday to St. Louis to start a three-game series. St. Louis won five of its last six against Milwaukee to earn a season series split (9-9).
"Nice win for us," Carpenter said. "Going into an off day, with a big series coming up, to be able to get that win against a quality pitcher, a quality club we need to beat, it was a nice win all around and obviously I pitched well."
Carpenter was 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA in three previous starts this season against Milwaukee. He said the difference was being able to locate his fastball.
"If you can locate your fastball on both sides of the plate, you're going to have success," Carpenter said.