Oct. 10--In the first postseason meeting between the Cubs and the Cardinals in 123 years of the rivalry, pitchers John Lackey and Jon Lester provided a duel worthy of the occasion.
The Cardinals provided enough offense to give Lackey the victory.
Lackey, a 36-year-old veteran of 22 playoff appearances, pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings to help the Cardinals to a 4-0 victory over the Cubs in the opener of the best-of-five National League Division Series on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
Lackey had a no-hitter through five innings before giving up one hit each in the sixth and seventh. He walked one and struck out five.
Stephen Piscotty hit a ground-rule double to right field off Lester with one out in the first, and Matt Holliday followed with an RBI single for a 1-0 Cardinals lead. Lester shut down the Cardinals until the eighth, when Tommy Pham added a pinch-hit solo home run in his first postseason plate appearance. Piscotty's two-run homer off Pedro Strop sealed the Cardinals' victory.
Lackey didn't allow a baserunner until he walked Kyle Schwarber with one out in the fourth, but Kris Bryant hit into a double play to erase the Cubs' progress. Lackey didn't allow a hit until Addison Russell singled up the middle to lead off the sixth inning. Russell reached third after a stolen base and a groundout, but Dexter Fowler flied out deep to right field to end the Cubs' threat.
Lackey escaped more trouble in the seventh after allowing a leadoff single to Schwarber, striking out Bryant and prompting Anthony Rizzo to hit into a double play at first. Bryant struck out with runners on first and third to end the game.
Lester gave up five hits, struck out nine and walked one over 7 1/3 innings.
