PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Miguel Cairo helped the St. Louis Cardinals leave the desert with a commanding lead in their National League Division Series.

Cairo singled in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning and five pitchers combined on a six-hitter as the Cardinals edged the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1, to move within one win of their second NL Championship Series appearance in three years.

One inning after entering as a defensive replacement as part of a double switch, Cairo produced the biggest hit of his seven-year career.

"I am just blessed right now," he said. "I'm in the best organization in baseball. Since I've been here, it's been so good for me. They've been treating me so well. Today, the base hit just made it better. What a beautiful day today was for me."

Blanked for 6 1/3 innings by Chuck Finley, Arizona tied it in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI double by Quinton McCracken.

But Edgar Renteria led off the ninth with a single off Mike Koplove (0-1) and was sacrificed into scoring position by Mike Matheny. Cairo, waived by the Chicago Cubs last season, bounced Koplove's next pitch up the middle to score Renteria without a throw.

Cairo had 19 hits as a pinch hitter during the season and said he approached the key at-bat with that mind-set.

"I always get ready to pinch hit. Today I got the chance, the opportunity to go out there," he explained. "I was just looking for a fastball to hit somewhere hard. I get the fastball right (down) the middle, a little in, but I tried to hit it to the middle."

"You've seen it all year long," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa added. "You look at his pinch-hitting record, he's right at the top of the league this year. He has gotten so many huge pinch hits, just like today. Drive in a run, start of the rally, middle of the rally, I think it's a tribute to how hard he works."

The hit made a winner of Jeff Fassero (1-0), who got the last out in the bottom of the eighth. Jason Isringhausen did not allow a ball out of the infield in a perfect ninth for his first save.

The series shifts to St. Louis for Game Three on Saturday.

"This is a three out of five series. We know who we're playing against, the defending champions. We have total respect," La Russa said. "We're really excited we got two. But trust me, there will be nobody that's half-stepping on Saturday because we know how dangerous the Diamondbacks are."

Arizona came up empty after pitching aces Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the first two games.

"It's tough. It means you're in an 0-2 hole going back to their ballpark," said Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly, who starts Miguel Batista on Saturday as he tries to avoid being swept. "It's probably the understatement of the season that our work is cut out for us now."

Matt Morris and Finley more than matched Johnson and Schilling as the Cardinals limited the defending World Series champions to three runs and 14 hits in the first two games.

Finley gave up four hits and two walks and struck out seven before his pitching hand began to cramp up.

"My index finger kind of started shutting down toward my palm," the lefthander explained. "I couldn't get it to relax. When I was facing that first batter, after every pitch it would kind of lock down."

"Cannot give him enough credit," La Russa said. "Coming in, he was one of the keys to our chance. First couple innings, he made great pitches, then he started pitching even better."

Of more concern to La Russa and the Cardinals is the condition of third baseman Scott Rolen, who suffered a sprained left shoulder on a key play in the seventh inning.

Trailing 1-0, the Diamondbacks had runners at first and second with two out. Rolen charged Junior Spivey's ground ball but was kicked by pinch runner Alex Cintron, who was called out for interference.

"It was an instinctive play," Brenly said. "He read the ball off the bat. I think he thought it was hit a little bit harder than it was. When Rolen came into the baseline to field it, he tried his best to get out of the way but unfortunately made contact. Just one of those things that happens."

"Trust me, if he wouldn't have interfered, the inning would have been over and we would still have a third baseman," La Russa said. "I'm sitting out there, thinking about it. My heart is really warm about the way we're playing, and I'm sick to my stomach about Scott."

La Russa's mood took a turn for the worse in the eighth. Albert Pujols, who moved to third from left field after Rolen's injury, mishandled a grounder off the bat of leadoff hitter Greg Colbrunn.

Reliever Rick White retired Matt Williams and Steve Finley on pop-ups, but McCracken lined an 0-1 pitch just out of reach of right fielder J.D. Drew and off the base of the fence for an RBI double.

Fassero came on and got pinch hitter Mark Grace to fly out to keep the game tied.

Schilling again pitched well in the postseson against St. Louis, yielding a run and seven hits over seven innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. His only mistake was an opposite-field home run in the third by Drew, who also homered off Schilling in last year's NLDS.

"I made my pitches for the most part. I made the pitch I wanted to make in that situation, but I got beat on it," said Schilling, who has given up just two runs in three playoff starts vs. the Cardinals.