Eckstein helps Cards squeeze out a win

The Cardinals shortstop was the right man for a ninth-inning suicide squeeze bunt.

PHOENIX -- David Eckstein could barely contain himself when he got the sign for a suicide squeeze.

"I hope my smile didn't give it away," the St. Louis leadoff hitter said. "I love that play."

Eckstein got the bunt down as pinch-runner So Taguchi raced home in the ninth inning to give the Cardinals a 2-1 victory Wednesday night over the Arizona Diamondbacks and earn Chris Carpenter his 13th victory, tied for most in the majors.

Javier Vazquez (7-8) held the powerhouse St. Louis lineup to a season-low three hits in a complete-game loss.

"When I saw that the runner on third was Taguchi and Eckstein hitting, I thought to myself, what a perfect situation for a squeeze," Vazquez said. "But there's nothing you can do. When I saw it was a squeeze, I just tried to throw it low, but Eckstein did a good job of getting the bat on the ball."

Jason Isringhausen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 200th career save, and 23rd in 25 chances this season. Albert Pujols went 0-for-3, ending his 17-game hitting streak.

Carpenter (13-4) isn't scheduled to pitch again before next Tuesday night's All-Star game, but he brushed aside any talk of him starting, a decision that will be made by his manager, Tony La Russa.

"It doesn't matter. There's a lot of guys deserving to start," Carpenter said. "That's up to Tony, not up to me."

Yadier Molina led off with a double just fair down the right-field line, then was replaced by Taguchi. Pinch-hitter Abraham Nunez sacrificed Taguchi to third. On a 1-0 pitch, Eckstein put down a bunt that rolled just a few feet into the grass toward third to easily bring the speedy runner home. The pitch was extremely low.

"Six out of seven times you're not going to get the bat on it," La Russa said.

A tough pitch, Eckstein said, can make a batter concentrate better in a bunt situation, especially a squeeze.

"It's one of my most favorite plays, if not my favorite play, in the game," Eckstein said. "It's so exciting. Everything's right there on the line. It's even more special when it's in the ninth inning against a guy that's been dominating us."

Carpenter, who allowed one earned run in his previous four starts, ran his streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 21 2-3 before Cintron's tying homer in the sixth. He struck out seven and walked two, both in the first inning.

"It was a battle all night long," Carpenter said. "He pitched a great game. It was kind of flip a coin, whoever was going to get the next run across had a pretty good chance to win the game."

Noteworthy

The Diamondbacks have lost five in a row at home overall, and eight in a row at home to St. Louis.

Carpenter is 7-0 with a 1.69 ERA in eight road starts this season.