On Monday evening at Busch Stadium, the offense and defense received the majority of the attention in a 6-1 St. Louis Cardinals victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Though he was not dominant, Cards starting pitcher Chris Carpenter held the visitors to just one run over seven innings. He was aided by solid defensive play, especially from shortstop Brendan Ryan and right fielder Ryan Ludwick.
In quietly picking up his ninth win of the season against just three losses, the 34 year-old-ace lowered his season’s ERA to 2.19. As always, Carpenter did not beat himself, allowing just two walks over his seven mound innings.
In fact, it was the 32nd consecutive start by the right-hander in which he issued two or fewer walks. Tom Orf helps us put this into context by providing the list of such Cardinals streaks this decade.
Cardinals consecutive starts with two or fewer walks (2000-2009)
| Streak start | Streak end | G | W | L | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Chris Carpenter | 7/30/2006 | 7/27/2009 * | 32 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 214.1 | 183 | 74 | 70 | 34 | 157 | 12 | 2.94 |
| Chris Carpenter | 5/29/2005 | 9/18/2005 | 21 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 163.2 | 118 | 35 | 34 | 25 | 142 | 10 | 1.87 |
| Joel Pineiro | 4/22/2009 | 7/24/2009 * | 17 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 116.2 | 108 | 45 | 35 | 9 | 49 | 2 | 2.70 |
| Woody Williams | 6/16/2002 | 5/10/2003 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 112.1 | 90 | 28 | 28 | 18 | 82 | 8 | 2.24 |
| Kyle Lohse | 5/13/2008 | 7/27/2008 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 96 | 36 | 33 | 17 | 54 | 11 | 3.13 |
| Matt Morris | 5/9/2003 | 8/28/2003 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 85.2 | 99 | 49 | 47 | 16 | 55 | 10 | 4.94 |
| Darryl Kile | 6/24/2000 | 9/7/2000 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 106 | 98 | 41 | 38 | 18 | 81 | 13 | 3.23 |
| Adam Wainwright | 4/26/2008 | 9/13/2008 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 91.1 | 86 | 37 | 34 | 19 | 62 | 11 | 3.35 |
| Matt Morris | 9/15/2004 | 6/6/2005 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 81.2 | 76 | 39 | 34 | 16 | 58 | 8 | 3.75 |
| Joel Pineiro | 7/21/2008 | 4/10/2009 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 64.2 | 83 | 44 | 41 | 12 | 37 | 14 | 5.71 |
| Chris Carpenter | 7/30/2004 | 4/10/2005 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 64.2 | 62 | 29 | 25 | 11 | 52 | 7 | 3.48 |
| Jason Simontacchi | 5/7/2003 | 9/2/2003 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 59 | 73 | 45 | 42 | 15 | 44 | 14 | 6.41 |
| Kyle Lohse | 8/23/2008 | 4/23/2009 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 64 | 62 | 23 | 20 | 14 | 42 | 4 | 2.81 |
| Braden Looper | 7/4/2008 | 8/24/2008 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 58 | 25 | 24 | 12 | 36 | 11 | 3.43 |
| Andy Benes | 4/29/2000 | 6/17/2000 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 64.1 | 73 | 32 | 32 | 14 | 59 | 12 | 4.48 |
While Carpenter’s current run is by far the longest for the club this decade, he also holds the second-longest such streak, accomplished during his stellar Cy Young Award campaign in 2005.
Another active streak is tied for third on the list. Fellow starter Joel Pineiro currently is working on a 17-game run. Even more amazing is that Pineiro has given out just nine free passes and allowed only two home runs in total during those 17 starts.
Pineiro will be trying to extend his streak when he opposes the Dodgers on Wednesday night. Carpenter will be pitching this weekend against the visiting Houston Astros.