St. Louis, MO -- (Sports Network) - Chris Carpenter returned from the disabled list and pitched five scoreless innings as the Cardinals escaped Ryan Franklin's rough ninth frame to upend Chicago, 2-1, in the middle meeting of a three-game set.

Carpenter (2-0), sidelined since April 14 due to a strained ribcage, scattered three hits and two walks while fanning four for St. Louis, which received a shutout from Joel Pineiro in 3-0 victory on Tuesday.

"It was fun to get out there and be able to compete again," Carpenter said. "I went in, felt good and was able to execute for the most part."

Albert Pujols went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Chris Duncan had two hits, scored and drove in a run for the victors.

Ryan Dempster (3-3) took the loss despite a quality start of six hits and two runs in seven innings for the Cubs, who have dropped three straight.

"Our starting pitching basically is the key to why we've been over .500 all year," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.

Franklin entered the ninth with a 2-0 lead and allowed a one-out double to Milton Bradley. After a line out from Mike Fontenot, the closer walked Geovany Soto and yielded an RBI single to pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir, leaving runners on the corners.

Reed Johnson came off the bench to pinch-hit with the tying run 90 feet away but struck out swinging, capping Franklin's 10th save of the season.

Carpenter stranded a Cubs runner in scoring position in each of the first three frames, and the hosts went ahead 1-0 in the fourth, as Pujols doubled and scored on Duncan's single through the right side of the infield.

Kyle McClellan set down six of the seven batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings, and the Cards tacked on a run in the home seventh on Khalil Greene's pinch-hit sacrifice fly.

Game Notes

Carpenter has not allowed an earned run in 15 innings this season. In 14 career starts against the Cubs coming in, Carpenter was 7-3 with a 3.08 ERA... St. Louis leads the 2009 series with Chicago by a 5-3 count...The Cardinals optioned outfielder Shane Robinson to Triple-A Memphis to make room on the roster for Carpenter.