Cards Beat Cubs; Other Friday Results

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 Chicago Cubs.

Lackey outpitched old teammate Jon Lester, allowing two hits into the eighth inning, and rookies Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty each homered 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 fans mixed into the red throng for the first post-season game between the two longtime 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 had sidelined him since September 20. He was oh-for-three, 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. Addison Russell ended the suspense with a solid single up the middle to open the sixth and Kyle Schwarber's bunt hit leading off the seventh was the only 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.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Saturday. The Cardinals turn to lefty Jaime Garcia (10-6), who made 20 starts coming off risky thoracic surgery. Kyle Hendricks (8-7) makes his post-season debut for the NL wild card winners. Game time is 4:37pm.

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Other Friday scores: 

Texas 6, Toronto 4 (14 INNINGS) Texas leads the best-of-five series, 2-0. Travel day today.

Kansas City 5, Houston 4 Series is tied 1-1. Travel day today.

New York Mets 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 1. Mets lead 1-0. Game 2 tonight at 8:07pm.