ST. LOUIS, 26 October 2006 — St. Louis grabbed a 2-1 lead over the Detroit Tigers in the World Series as Chris Carpenter threw three-hit ball over eight innings to guide the Cardinals to a 5-0 win on Tuesday.

Carpenter needed just 82 pitches to mow down the Tigers in Game Three of the best-of-seven championship in front of a crowd of 46,513 on a cold night at Busch Stadium.

The 31-year-old right-hander, who won the Cy Young Award in 2005, struck out six without issuing a walk before Braden Looper came on in relief and retired the side in order in the ninth.

“He showed everything he could do,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said about his ace starter. “Running fastballs, good command of his curveball, got some outs with his changeup. Everything moves and he had real good command.” The Tigers played a sloppy game, allowing two runs to score on an error and another on a wild pitch. What aggravated Detroit manager Jim Leyland most, however, was the way they swung the bats.

“When you get two or three hits in a game you always look bad, that’s just the way it is,” Leyland said. “But I would never take anything away from Chris Carpenter’s performance tonight. It was outstanding.”

Game Four is scheduled in St. Louis, though rain is forecast. The Cardinals plan to start Jeff Suppan, MVP of the National League Championship Series, against Detroit’s Jeremy Bonderman.

Suppan, 12-7 with an earned run average of 4.12 in the regular season, is 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA this post-season. Bonderman (14-8, 4.08) is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in the playoffs.

The Cardinals have had trouble beating left-handers this season, going 23-34 against left-handed starters versus a 60-44 mark against right-handers, but they broke through against Detroit’s left-hander Nate Robertson.

Jim Edmonds came through with a clutch, two-run double to right in the fourth off Robertson, and the Cards doubled their lead in the seventh when reliever Joel Zumaya turned a potential double-play grounder into two runs with a wild throw to third.

The hard-throwing Zumaya walked David Eckstein and Preston Wilson to start the seventh. Albert Pujols hit a hard grounder up the middle that was speared by Zumaya, who rushed a throw to third base that went behind Brandon Inge running to cover the bag. Eckstein and Wilson scampered home on the errant throw.

The Cardinals added a fifth run in the eighth on a wild pitch by reliever Zach Miner that scored So Taguchi. “They took advantage of a couple of opportunities,” Detroit skipper Leyland said. “And we helped them a little bit.”

Carpenter was appearing in his first World Series after missing a chance to pitch because of injury in the 2004 Fall Classic, which the Boston Red Sox swept in four games. “Missing ‘04 was big,” he said. “It feels great, obviously, but we’ve got a long way to go. I was on the corners and making quality pitches all night long.” La Russa said Carpenter’s masterful performance came as no surprise. “We’ve seen him do this the last two or three years, over and over again,” the Cardinals manager said. “He’s so strong between the ears. Nothing fazes him. He’s got a good head, good heart, good guts.” Leyland said he might juggle his lineup to get some more offense, but did not consider Game Three a potential turning point in the Series.

“What this means is the Cards went ahead 2-1 and if we don’t swing the bats better they’ll go up 3-1. But I think we’ll swing the bats better.”