"The Cardinals traveled the extra mile with Chris Carpenter Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

At the end of the journey they happened upon a win the hard way.

Twice denied wins this season when allowing only two hits, Carpenter (1-2) slogged to his first victory in eight starts while allowing a career-most 13 hits - all singles. Rookie third baseman Daniel Descalso's two-out, two-run eighth-inning single forgave the starting pitcher an earlier stumble and provided the difference in a 6-4 win before 34,249 at Wrigley Field.

"I'm not worried about what the score is, the situation in the game," said Descalso, who delivered against reliever Kerry Wood. "I'm not trying to let that get in my head. I'm just up there trying to have a good at-bat."

Descalso has 12 RBIs. Of those, seven have tied or given the Cardinals a lead in the seventh inning or later.

What Carpenter later called a "weird, weird game" proved especially gratifying in numerous ways.

Bench coach Joe Pettini served as acting manager while Tony La Russa began an open-ended convalescence from shingles. The team announced during the ninth inning that La Russa would not rejoin the club during its current six-game road trip and offered no assurance of him returning to the dugout in the home stand that follows.

In La Russa's absence the Cardinals seized every opportunity to exploit the Cubs' loose outfield defense while receiving four hits from first baseman Albert Pujols and two hitless innings from relievers Miguel Batista and rookie Eduardo Sanchez, who earned his team-high fourth save.

Pettini's eighth-inning decision to leave pinch hitter Jon Jay in the game to play right field led to a diving catch to open the bottom of the inning.

The night raised Pujols' average from .248 to .268. It showed the offense's ability to take three leads without benefit of a home run.

It also bolstered an opening day pitcher long ago betrayed by inconsistent offense and late-inning pratfalls. The Cardinals scored three runs or fewer in four of Carpenter's first five starts.

"I'm not going to say that we picked Carp up tonight. He picked us up by pitching tough," Pujols said. "They hit a lot of balls where they were pitched. I thought he pitched great for us.""