St. Louis ? Chris Carpenter is 5-1 against the Chicago Cubs since the start of the 2004 season. Apparently, familiarity isn’t helping the opposition.

“It’s all about pitching,” Carpenter said Thursday after throwing a seven-hitter in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-0 victory. “Hitting is hard. If you make good pitches that aren’t elevated in the zone and keep people off-balance, you’re going to have success.”

Scott Rolen homered, hit his 300th career double and had three RBIs for St. Louis. Rolen, the cleanup hitter most of the season, was moved down to fifth for only the second time, and his big day raised his average to only .228.

“My last at-bat I was able to relax a little bit,” Rolen said. “Not until you relax do you realize how much you’re pressing.”

The Cardinals, who broke open a one-run game in the eighth inning on homers by Larry Walker and Rolen, are 32-10 at home against the Cubs during the last six seasons and denied them a sweep of a two-game series.

Chicago, which learned before the game that shortstop Nomar Garciaparra would be out two to three months because of a torn groin, hasn’t had a sweep in St. Louis since 1988.

“That’s tough for us, regardless of what he’s hitting,” pitcher Ryan Dempster said of Garciaparra’s injury. “Anytime you lose a guy like that, it’s huge.”

Carpenter (3-1) struck out six and walked one in his sixth career shutout and his first since Sept. 4, 2001, against the New York Yankees. It was his 14th career complete game and first since last Aug. 26 at Cincinnati and it was also his first nine-inning complete game since 2001.

Chicago had two runners on in an inning three times, but Carpenter, who also retired 11 in a row at one point early in the game, kept escaping.

St. Louis' Chris Carpenter delivers against Chicago. Carpenter pitched a seven-hit shutout as the Cardinals defeated the Cubs, 4-0, Thursday in St. Louis.

“They have quality guys over there, you’ve got quality guys everywhere in this league, and I’ve got to go out and make quality pitches,” Carpenter said.

Astros 8, Brewers 7

Houston — Andy Pettitte pitched seven strong innings to win for the first time since last July, Willy Taveras had an RBI triple, and Houston held on for a victory over Milwaukee.

Pettitte (1-1), who had season-ending elbow surgery Aug. 13, scattered five hits, gave up three runs and struck out five in his fourth start of the season. He last won July 21 against Arizona. It was also the left-hander’s first home win since beating the Mets on May 15.

Pettitte originally hurt his elbow batting in his Astros debut last year, his first in Houston after nine seasons with the New York Yankees. Thursday, he had a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 6-1 lead.

Braves 2, Nationals 1

Washington — Shortstop Cristian Guzman made a two-run throwing error on Raul Mondesi’s wet bases-loaded grounder off Chad Cordero (2-1) with two outs in the ninth. It was the first loss of the season for Washington’s bullpen, which entered leading the major leagues with a 5-0 record.

Chris Reitsma (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth, and Dan Kolb finished up for his fifth save, with the help of Andruw Jones’ diving catch of pinch-hitter Carlos Baerga’s liner to center.

The comeback prevented John Smoltz from taking another tough loss and dropping to 0-4 in his return to starting. He allowed five hits in seven innings.

Phillies 6, Rockies 3

Philadelphia — Jim Thome ended his season-long home-run drought that extended for 53 at-bats, and Todd Pratt also hit a two-run homer.

Jon Lieber (4-0) gave up three runs and nine hits in eight innings, and Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his third save, completing a game that took just 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Mets 10, Marlins 1

Miami — Pedro Martinez pitched seven innings, Doug Mientkiewicz hit his first career grand slam, and New York routed baseball’s stingiest pitching staff. Carlos Beltran homered and drove in three runs for the Mets, who scored seven runs in the second inning against former teammate Al Leiter (0-2).

New York won a Martinez-Leiter matchup for the second time in six days. Martinez (2-0) allowed three hits and one run, retiring 13 in a row during one stretch, and snapped Florida’s four-game winning streak.

Padres 6, Dodgers 1

San Diego — Ryan Klesko broke out of a slump with three hits and two RBIs, and San Diego snapped Los Angeles’ eight-game winning streak. The Dodgers, who matched the 1940 and ’55 teams for the fastest start in franchise history through 14 games, dropped to 12-3. The ’55 World Series championship club is the only Dodgers team to start 13-2. The Brooklyn Dodgers began the year 22-2. Adam Eaton (2-1) pitched into the sixth inning and allowed a run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts to help the Padres end a four-game losing streak to L.A.

Pirates 4, Reds 2

Cincinnati — Jason Bay hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs as Pittsburgh stopped a five-game losing streak.

Bay had three hits, finishing a triple short of the cycle, and his solo homer in the fifth off Eric Milton (2-2) was his first since Sept. 29.