"On a four-letter night spelled c-o-l-d, Chris Carpenter responded to the first question of a closely matched World Series.

He answered loudly, sometimes profanely and once with his face planted beside the first-base bag. Ultimately the Cardinals' signature starter held the Texas Rangers' nitric offense long enough that a sixth-inning, pinch-hit RBI and three innings of shutout relief translated into a 3-2 win in Game 1 at Busch Stadium.

Carpenter turned Tuesday's question mark into Wednesday's exclamation point. He pitched effectively despite pitching behind so often that he was unable to break out his curveball for much of the first three innings.

Emotion is rarely far from the surface with Carpenter. On a windy night when he could see his breath, Carpenter could also hear himself lapse into unprintable words as he fought for command.

Manager Tony La Russa called it "a great performance." Carpenter classified it as an early struggle that gradually became more comfortable. He exited for a pinch-hitter with the score tied. And because of that pinch-hitter, Allen Craig, Carpenter earned his third decision of the postseason and moved past Bob Gibson for the most postseason victories (eight) in team history.

"The thing about Carp, he was exactly what we needed," La Russa said.

Craig made his performance a winning one by driving Alexi Ogando's two-strike fastball beneath right fielder Nelson Cruz's glove to score third baseman David Freese with the go-ahead run.

Freese reached by running his postseason hitting streak to 11 games with a one-out double to right field, then took third base on Wilson's 0-2 wild pitch. A two-out situation then found Craig.

"Craig is the best pinch-hitter we've got," La Russa said. "But to come off the bench, in your first World Series, in your first at-bat, against that guy? Wow."