Strong Cardinals leave feisty Padres behind

ST. LOUIS – Reggie Sanders, Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals looked every bit like the best team in baseball – even with a shaky ending.

San Diego played as poorly as its record suggests for most of the day. And now, with ace pitcher Jake Peavy out for the postseason with a broken rib, the Padres might be overmatched.

Sanders hit a grand slam and set an N.L. Division Series record with six RBIs, Carpenter pitched six scoreless innings before being pulled as a precaution and the Cardinals built a big lead and held off the Padres 8-5 Tuesday in Game 1.

“It’s huge,” Sanders said. “Let alone getting one RBI in a week, you get six in one day and especially under postseason pressure. It’s a great day.

“But it’s not over, we’ve got a long way to go.”

Facing a team that won the West with an 82-80 record, the Cardinals – who led the majors with 100 wins – opened an 8-0 cushion in the fifth inning against Peavy.

Peavy pitched with an injury that worsened in the third, and he was taken to a hospital after lasting only 4 1/3 innings.

An MRI showed one broken rib on his right side and the possibility of a second break. A Padres spokesman said the injury would take four to six weeks to heal.

“He felt something on his right side,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He said he felt it during the course of the game.”

Peavy thinks he might have bruised his ribs during a celebratory scrum on the field after the Padres clinched the N.L. West on Wednesday. He said the injury was probably worsened when he caught a spike on the rubber on a wild pitch in the third that didn’t even make it to the dirt.

“I thought I had bruised ribs. I never imagined it would be this,” Peavy said. “It’s weird. It’s been a little bothersome, but it was nothing we thought would get in my way.

“I knew it was pretty bad when I came out of the game.”

Even without Peavy, the pesky Padres weren’t done. They scored once in the seventh, added another run in the eighth and then got right back into it in the ninth. San Diego scored three times and loaded the bases with two outs before closer Jason Isringhausen struck out Ramon Hernandez.

“We’re playing a tough team,” Sanders said. “As you can see, they fought to the last out.”

Mark Mulder will oppose San Diego’s Pedro Astacio on Thursday in Game 2 of the best-of-five series.

Jim Edmonds helped St. Louis with a home run, a double and a single. Eric Young had a pinch-hit homer in the eighth for San Diego and an RBI groundout in the ninth.

Manager Tony La Russa’s team won for the fifth time in six NLDS openers. That includes a victory in 1996 when the Cardinals swept the Padres.

Peavy appeared to be the Padres’ best shot at postseason success after going 13-7 with a 2.88 ERA – only five points behind Carpenter – and leading the N.L. with 216 strikeouts.

But he couldn’t make it through the fifth, his second-shortest outing of the season, and gave up eight runs on eight hits.

The Padres had been planning to pitch Peavy in Game 4 on Sunday in San Diego on regular rest if the series goes that far. Now, the likely starter is Adam Eaton, who had been slotted for Game 5.

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Cardinals 8, Padres 5

ST. LOUIS LEADS SERIES 1-0

a-announced for Lawrence in the 7th. b-struck out for Burroughs in the 7th. c-homered for Roberts in the 8th. d-announced for M.Sweeney in the 8th. e-walked for Johnson in the 8th. f-singled for Linebrink in the 9th. E – KGreene (1), Eckstein (1). LOB – San Diego 10, St. Louis 5. 2B – MaSweeney (1), KGreene (1), Edmonds (1). HR – EYoung (1), off Flores; RSanders (1), off Peavy; Edmonds (1), off Peavy. RBIs – EYoung 2 (2), Loretta (1), BGiles (1), KGreene (1), Edmonds (1), RSanders 6 (6). SB – BGiles (1), Jackson (1). SF – KGreene. GIDP – Loretta, RaHernandez, Randa, Grudzielanek. Runners left in scoring position – San Diego 3 (RaHernandez 3); St. Louis 1 (Eckstein). Runners moved up – EYoung. DP – San Diego 2 (Loretta, KGreene and MaSweeney), (KGreene and MaSweeney); St. Louis 3 (Eckstein, Grudzielanek and Pujols), (Nunez and Pujols), (Eckstein and Pujols).

Inherited runners-scored – Eldred 1-0, Isringhausen 2-2, Flores 1-0. IBB – off Peavy (LWalker) 1, off Peavy (Pujols) 1. WP – Peavy. T – 2:57. A – 52,349 (50,345).