PITTSBURGH - Even with a five-run lead in the first inning against the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates, Chris Carpenter took nothing for granted.

Carpenter allowed just four this and three runs in eight innings, becoming the majors' first 18-game winner, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pirates 8-3 Wednesday night.

"If you go out there relaxed, you're going to give up runs," Carpenter said. "You have to go out and continue to compete and make pitches."

The Cardinals used five singles to jump to the early lead and knock Pittsburgh starter Kip Wells (7-13) out of the game in the first inning. That was more than enough for Carpenter (18-4) even though he was not sharp early.

"If you think you're going to breeze through the game because you have a five-run lead, it's not going to happen," he said. "Early on my command with my fastball wasn't very good. Fortunately, as the game went on I got better. My breaking ball was pretty good, and that's what got me through for the most part."

Carpenter improved to 10-0 in his last 13 starts, all St. Louis victories, and 10-0 on the road this season.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa tied Sparky Anderson for third place on baseball's managerial wins list with his 2,194th career victory. Only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763) have won more games.

The teams engaged in a brief shoving match 90 minutes before the game, prompting umpires to ask for a pregame meeting between managers La Russa and Lloyd McClendon. The game was played without incident, and both managers refused comment after the game.

Pittsburgh reliever Rick White, however, did have something to say. White brushed back Hector Luna in the seventh inning Tuesday, one day after Luna's collision with Jose Castillo at second base resulted in a season-ending knee injury for the Pirates' second baseman.

"I think the whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion," White said. "(St. Louis pitching coach Dave) Duncan asked me a question today and probably shouldn't have. If Tony had a question to ask, then Tony should have come up and asked me. I would have talked to him.

"Instead, he went through Duncan and Skip (McClendon) didn't like it too much. And whatever happened, happened."