Carpenter again impressive for Cardinals

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Chris Carpenter allowed his first two runs of spring, both unearned thanks to his error, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 6-3 Monday

“I thought he was good again,” manager Tony La Russa said. “He had everything. Everything is working.”

Carpenter, who has missed most of the last two seasons with arm trouble, matched his spring training strikeout total of four when Washington’s fifth hitter of the game, Corey Patterson, was caught looking in the second inning. He ended the afternoon with six strikeouts and threw 52 of 76 pitches for strikes.

“He was throwing good enough that they weren’t putting the ball in play early in the count and he has a finishing pitch,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “He doesn’t try to get swings and misses but if he gets an 0-2, 1-2 count, he’s going to try to put the guy away, and he’s got pitches to do it with.”

Carpenter’s fielding error in the third inning led to two runs. Lastings Milledge looped a two-out broken-bat single to start the rally. Carpenter then mishandled Cristian Guzman’s chopper and Nick Johnson followed with an RBI double down the left-field line. Carpenter’s streak of not allowing an earned run extended to 19 innings.

Scott Olsen had his longest, and possibly best, outing of the spring for Washington, allowing two runs and seven hits in five innings.

“We located pretty well on both sides of the plate today, which we hadn’t really consistently done so far this year,” Olsen said. “We are taking more steps forward, trying to build up arm strength and strength in general to be able to go out there and last seven to nine innings.”

Josh Bard, the former Boston catcher who was let go earlier this spring before the Nationals signed him to a minor league contract, went 0-for-3 in his Washington debut.

St. Louis gave Carpenter a lead in the first inning. Brendan Ryan singled back up the middle and advanced to third when Jose Castillo’s attempt to throw out Rick Ankiel on a bunt single went awry. Ryan scored on Ryan Ludwick’s sacrifice fly to left.

The Cardinals took the lead for good with four runs in the sixth inning. Skip Schumaker had a two-run single to left and scored a run.