Robert Galbraith / Reuters

Albert Pujols of the Cardinals celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Padres in the fourth inning during Game 1 of their National League Division Series on Tuesday. The homer propelled the Cardinals to victory.

Pujols hit a three-run homer off Padres rookie reliever Cla Meredith last Wednesday in a 4-2 win at St. Louis that may have saved the Cardinals’ season. St. Louis lost nine of its last 12 regular-season games.

Overall, the two-time NL West champion Padres have lost eight straight postseason games dating to 1998, when they were swept in the World Series by the New York Yankees.

Game 2 is Thursday afternoon, when 43-year-old San Diego native David Wells is scheduled to start for the Padres against Jeff Weaver.

While Peavy struggled — he left to a mixture of boos and light applause in the sixth — Carpenter, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, kept the Padres’ suspect offense off-balance with his curveball, limiting San Diego to one run and five hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one.

Carpenter was pitching for the first time since losing 7-5 to the Padres at St. Louis a week earlier. La Russa gambled on Sunday and held Carpenter out of the regular-season finale in case the right-hander would have been needed Monday in the makeup of a rainout against the Giants. But that became moot when Atlanta beat Houston, giving the Cards the NL Central title.

“If there’s a way of pitching him today, our club plays better when he pitches,” La Russa said. “Nobody in the league is better than he is.”

Carpenter made adjustments and got out of jams.

“My stuff was good,” he said. “My location was good. And my breaking ball was very good.”

The Padres came into this series more confident and healthier than the Cardinals, who backed into the playoffs after barely avoiding one of the worst September collapses ever.

Baseball playoffs Recapping the World Series A look back at Red Sox vs. Rockies

But, said Padres leadoff hitter Dave Roberts, “Those guys have a lot of confidence when it comes to the postseason. They’ve had a lot of success. Today was definitely evidence.”

Down 5-0, San Diego finally broke through against Carpenter in the sixth. Roberts legged out a one-out triple to the left-center gap, his third hit, and scored on Brian Giles’ sacrifice fly.

The Padres had two big scoring chances and came away empty, including loading the bases with one out in the seventh, when they chased Carpenter but couldn’t score. Second baseman Ronnie Belliard made a sensational diving stop of Todd Walker’s grounder and threw him out to end the seventh.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures A kayaker flips out, a racehorse eyes the Triple Crown and more. more photos

Carpenter also got out of a jam in the fourth after allowing two singles opening the inning.

Edmonds hit an RBI single for the Cardinals in the fifth and Yadier Molina’s RBI base hit in the sixth gave St. Louis a 5-0 lead and chased Peavy.

Peavy allowed five runs 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings, struck out two and walked one.

Notes: All the Cardinals regulars except Eckstein had a hit off Peavy. Carpenter had a single, too. ... Ryan Klesko and Chan Ho Park both made San Diego’s postseason despite regular-season health issues. Klesko pinch-hit in the ninth and hit a fly ball for the final out. Park pitched the eighth.

More news

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images

Who deserves some early awards?

DeMarco: David Wright's hot bat — he's hitting .405 — makes him the pick for NL MVP thus far. But that's just for starters in our feature.

Padres' offense busts out in win vs. Mets

NEW YORK (AP) - Will Venable hit a pair of RBI doubles and Cameron Maybin had two run-scoring singles as the San Diego Padres broke out the offense after a long rain delay and beat the New York Mets 11-5 Thursday night.

Headlines

• Label

Pujols hits 450th HR, Haren blanks M's

Reds ride grand slam past Braves

Indians top Verlander, sweep Tigers

Mailbag: Harper, Trout have superstar potential

HBT: Now MLB debunking Yankee sale rumors

SportsTalk: Playoff bound? Maybe not

Does winning a postseason award matter?

Schilling's video-game firm lays off entire staff