CARDINALS 4, CUBS 0
ST. LOUIS -- John Lackey lived up to his reputation as a pitcher who craves the ball in October, helping the St. Louis Cardinals cool off the upstart Chicago Cubs.
Lackey outpitched old teammate Jon Lester, allowing two hits into the eighth inning, and rookies Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty each hit home runs late for the Cardinals in a 4-0 victory Friday night in the opener of their NL Division Series.
"Tonight was special, for sure," Lackey said. "The atmosphere was outstanding, the crowd was really into it, and I knew I'd have to pitch well."
He did it in front of a standing room only crowd of 47,830 -- the second-largest at 10-year-old Busch Stadium -- with thousands of Cubs faithful mixed into the red throng for the first postseason game between the two long-time rivals.
"Incredible. I thought his fastball was about as good as we've seen. Period," Manager Mike Matheny said. "Anything you wanted to do, he pretty much had it."
Yadier Molina did his part behind the plate, too, wearing a splint to protect a strained left thumb ligament that sidelined him since Sept. 20. He was 0 for 3 but seemingly had no issues.
"You can tell he's been anxious to get in there," Matheny said. "The way he moved behind the plate, the way he and John were working, he is so valuable to our club in so many ways."
Lackey protected a 1-0 lead by holding the Cubs hitless for five innings, getting help from Kris Bryant's double-play ball to end the fourth after Kyle Schwarber drew a one-out walk. Addison Russell got the Cubs' first hit when he singled up the middle to open the sixth and Schwarber's bunt hit leading off the seventh was the other hit allowed by Lackey in 7 1-3 innings.
Kevin Siegrist struck out two to end the eighth, when it was still a one-run game. Trevor Rosenthal gave up a single and a walk but fanned three in finishing the three-hitter. The Cubs struck out nine times, with six of the strikeouts coming on called strikes.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is today. The Cardinals turn to lefty Jaime Garcia (10-6), who made 20 starts coming off risky thoracic surgery. Kyle Hendricks (8-7) makes his postseason debut for the NL wild-card winners.
Matt Holliday had an RBI single in the first, giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead after three at-bats, and it remained that way until the bottom of the eighth.
Pham homered off Lester with one out in the eighth to snap a string of 13 consecutive outs for the lefty. Lester walked Carpenter and was replaced by Pedro Strop, who yielded a two-run home run to Piscott later in the eighth.
Lackey, 36, outdid Lester, with whom he formed a potent 1-2 punch on the 2013 Red Sox, the team that knocked off the Cardinals in the World Series.
"Lester did his thing as well," Lackey said. "A really fun game, and fun to be a part of."
Lackey is 3-0 with an 0.93 ERA in four starts against Chicago overall. Lester is 1-4, but he has a 2.79 ERA against St. Louis.
The Cubs had won nine in a row, including their wildcard victory at Pittsburgh on Wednesday. They haven't scored since the fifth inning of that 4-0 victory, however.
Manager Joe Maddon interrupted the game briefly in the sixth, asking plate umpire Phil Cuzzi to have the ball replaced because it had been in the dirt.
"We could not get anything generated," Maddon said. "They've pitched really well all season, that's a big reason they won 100 games."
Lester, the Cubs' big offseason free-agent pickup, settled in after the first. Piscotty doubled with one out and scored on Holliday's single. Lester struck out nine and gave up three runs on five hits in 7 1-3 innings.
"Lack made really one more pitch than I did," Lester said. "I know obviously the grand total doesn't show that, but that's kind of the way I feel."
St. Louis finished three games ahead of the Cubs, who had the third-best record in the majors and are making their first postseason appearance since 2008. The Cardinals were outscored 12-0 the final three games at Atlanta after wrapping up their third consecutive NL Central title.
Sports on 10/10/2015