ST. LOUIS – Chris Carpenter threw a two-hitter and David Eckstein had four hits to help the St. Louis Cardinals to their fifth straight victory, 5-0 over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Chris Duncan hit a two-run homer off Derek Lowe (7-6) in the third inning for the Cardinals, who had needed extra innings to win their previous three games, including a 14-inning victory over the Dodgers on Thursday in the series opener. Juan Encarnacion added a solo homer in the eighth off Danys Baez.

Eckstein is 11-for-26 (.423) for his career against Lowe.

Carpenter (8-4) threw his 10th career shutout and 21st complete game, the first of each this season. He struck out seven and hit a batter, requiring only 101 pitches.

Rafael Furcal lined a single over Eckstein’s head at shortstop to lead off the fourth, and Carpenter retired the next 14 hitters before Cesar Izturis singled up the middle with two outs in the eighth. Nomar Garciaparra was 0-for-3 with three groundouts, ending a 22-game hitting streak during which he batted .360.

The biggest problems for Carpenter came when he slipped and fell at the plate before striking out in the sixth, and when half of Andre Ethier’s broken bat helicoptered over his head on a groundout in the eighth.

Carpenter, the NL Cy Young winner last year, threw a one-hitter on June 14, 2005, at Toronto. He received a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 45,704 after his sacrifice bunt in the eighth.

Lowe gave up four runs and eight hits in the first three innings before settling down. He allowed three hits and no runs over his last three-plus innings. Lowe, who struck out five and walked one, is 1-3 in his last four starts, allowing 22 runs and 38 hits in 21 innings.

Eckstein, Duncan and Albert Pujols started the bottom of the first with singles to put the Cardinals ahead. Eckstein singled to open the third and scored on Duncan’s fourth homer, and first since May 21. Encarnacion added an RBI single in the inning for a 4-0 lead.

Notes: Eckstein’s four-hit game was his first since Sept. 30, 2005, against Cincinnati. He leads the NL with 38 multi-hit games, one more than Florida’s Miguel Cabrera. … The Cardinals played 36 innings over the previous three games and had gone to extra innings in six of the previous 16 games. … Garciaparra’s hitting streak was the second-longest in the majors this year behind Edgar Renteria’s 23-game run for Atlanta to start the season. … Encarnacion entered the game in a 1-for-18 slump.

AP-ES-07-14-06 2221EDT