WASHINGTON — Set aside the high-pressure task of postseason pitching that Chris Carpenter routinely masters for the St. Louis Cardinals and think about this:

Even the take-it-for-granted act of breathing feels odd on occasion now that he's missing a rib and two neck muscles.

Taking the mound for only the fourth time in 2012 after complicated surgery to cure numbness on his right side, the 37-year-old Carpenter spoiled the return of postseason baseball to Washington by throwing scoreless ball into the sixth inning, and the defending champion Cardinals beat the Nationals 8-0 Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in their NL Division Series.

"To go from not being able to compete, and not only compete but help your team, to be able to be in this situation," Carpenter said, "it's pretty cool."

Rookie Pete Kozma delivered a three-run homer, and a trio of relievers finished the shutout for the Cardinals, who can end the best-of-five series in Thursday's Game 4 at Washington. Kyle Lohse will start for St. Louis. Ross Detwiler pitches for Washington, which is sticking to its long-stated plan of keeping Stephen Strasburg on the sideline the rest of the way.

"We're not out of this, by a longshot," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "Shoot, I've had my back to worse walls than this."

With the exception of Ian Desmond — 3 for 4 on Wednesday, 7 for 12 in the series — the Nationals' hitters are struggling mightily. They've scored a total of seven runs in the playoffs and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base in Game 3.

Rookie phenom Bryce Harper's woes, in particular, stand out: He went 0 for 5, dropping to 1 for 15. He went to the plate with an ash bat and no gloves in the first inning, tried wearing anti-glare tinted contact lenses on a sun-splashed afternoon — nothing helped.

"Nothing I can do," the 19-year-old Harper said. "I just missed a couple."

All in all, quite a damper on the day for a Nationals Park-record 45,017 red-wearing, towel-twirling fans witnessing the first major-league postseason game in the nation's capital in 79 years.

ST. LOUIS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg
Jay cf	4	2	2	0	0	0	.333
Beltran rf	4	1	2	0	1	0	.417
Holliday lf	5	1	3	2	0	0	.250
S.Robinson pr-lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Craig 1b	3	0	1	1	2	2	.333
Y.Molina c	3	1	0	1	1	0	.200
Freese 3b	5	1	2	0	0	2	.417
Descalso 2b	4	1	1	1	0	2	.300
Kozma ss	5	1	1	3	0	2	.200
C.Carpenter p	3	0	2	0	0	1	.667
Schumaker ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M.Carpenter 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	37	8	14	8	4	9

WASHINGTON	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg
Werth rf	3	0	1	0	2	0	.250
Harper cf	5	0	0	0	0	0	.067
Zimmerman 3b	4	0	2	0	0	1	.385
LaRoche 1b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.091
Morse lf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Desmond ss	4	0	3	0	0	0	.583
Espinosa 2b	3	0	0	0	0	2	.111
K.Suzuki c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.091
E.Jackson p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bernadina ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lombardozzi ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.500
Tracy ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	34	0	7	0	3	5

St. Louis	130 001 120	—	8	14	1
Washington	000 000 000	—	0	7	0

E — Freese (1). LOB — St. Louis 9, Washington 11. 2B — Beltran (1), Craig (2), Freese 2 (3), C.Carpenter (1), Desmond (1). HR — Kozma (1), off E.Jackson. RBI — Holliday 2 (2), Craig (2), Y.Molina (1), Descalso (3), Kozma 3 (3). S — Jay, Espinosa. SF — Descalso. Runners left in scoring position — St. Louis 6 (Y.Molina 2, Craig, C.Carpenter, Descalso 2); Washington 6 (Morse 3, E.Jackson, K.Suzuki, Werth). RISP — St. Louis 3 for 12; Washington 0 for 8. Runners moved up — Holliday. GIDP — Jay, Y.Molina. DP — Washington 2.

Cardinals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
C.Carpentr W, 1-0	5-2/3	7	0	0	2	2	0.00
Rosenthal	1-1/3	0	0	0	0	1	0.00
Salas	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.00
J.Kelly	1	0	0	0	1	1	0.00

Nationals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
E.Jackson L, 0-1	5	8	4	4	1	4	7.20
Stammen	1	1	1	1	0	2	11.57
C.Garcia	1	2	1	1	2	2	3.38
Mattheus	1	3	2	2	1	0	6.00
Storen	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.00

Pitches — C.Carpenter 106, Rosenthal 21, Salas 15, J.Kelly 18, E.Jackson 68, Stammen 20, C.Garcia 30, Mattheus 28, Storen 11. Inherited runners-scored — Rosenthal 2-0. IBB — off C.Garcia (Craig). HBP — by Stammen (Y.Molina). Umpires — Home, Joe West; First, Jim Joyce; Second, Alfonso Marquez; Third, Ed Hickox; Right, Marvin Hudson; Left, Paul Emmel. T — 3:32. A — 45,017.