Suppan pitches Cardinals past Cubs with shut-out

By R.B. FALLSTROM\AP Sports Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Jeff Suppan pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning, overcoming three balls that rookie left fielder Chris Duncan misplayed into doubles, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 Friday night.

Scott Rolen drove in a run and made a running, juggling catch for the Cardinals, who began the day leading the second-place Reds by less than one percentage point in the NL Central.

The Cardinals have won only two of their last six games, both times when prevailing Juan Mateo started for the Cubs. St. Louis won despite going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranding 15 runners.

All-Star center fielder Jim Edmonds struck out four times in his first start for the Cardinals since leaving a game Aug. 15 because of post-concussion syndrome.

Duncan, who's provided a big boost for the offense with a .337 average, 14 homers and 29 RBIs in 178 at-bats, was 1-for-4 with a double and scored the Cardinals' first run in the third.

His hitting was far overshadowed by the balls that eluded him in the first, fifth and sixth - those were the only hits allowed by Suppan (10-7) to that point.

Duncan came in a few steps and then watched Freddie Bynum's fly ball sail over his head in the first, twice got turned around on Angel Pagan's fly ball to the warning track in the fifth, then hesitated and missed a diving attempt on Aramis Ramirez's liner in the sixth.

Suppan didn't allow of those runners, or anyone else, to advance past second base. Facing the Cubs for the second straight start, he gave up five hits, struck out two and walked three in 7 2-3 innings, plus added two hits and a sacrifice.

Randy Flores struck out Jacque Jones with runners on first and second for the last out in the eighth and Jason Isringhausen finished for his 31st save in 40 chances.

Isringhausen pitched for the first time since giving up a game-winning homer to the Mets' Carlos Beltran on Tuesday. Isringhausen drew a lot of boos from the home crowd when he came in to pitch.

Rolen made a nifty play behind Isringhausen, running far down the third-base line to catch John Mabry's foul pop. Avoiding a collision with shortstop Aaron Miles, Rolen had the ball pop out of his attempt at a basket catch, but grabbed it with his bare hand.

Duncan doubled off Mateo (1-2) to start the third and scored on Rolen's sacrifice fly, and two fielding plays involving Ramirez at third base helped the Cardinals take a 2-0 lead in the fifth.

Ramirez couldn't field Rolen's one-out chopper cleanly, losing sight of the ball just at his feet. Rolen stole second on Edmonds' strikeout and scored when Juan Encarnacion's low liner shot between Ramirez's legs on a play ruled a single.

Mateo gave up two runs, one earned, on 10 hits in five-plus innings. Notes: Actor Kevin Pollak, doing research for a screenplay based on the book “Three Nights in August” about Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, is in town the next few days along with author Buzz Bissinger. ... Chicago's Juan Pierre was 0-for-4 and didn't get the ball out of the infield, ending a 19-game road hitting streak during which he'd hit .364 (32-for-88). ... Ronnie Belliard and Gary Bennett each had three singles for St. Louis.