The St. Louis Cardinals jumped out in front immediately against the Chicago Cubs and didn't look back, taking a 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium.
Back-to-back hits from Stephen Piscotty and Matt Holliday put the Cardinals on the board in the first, giving John Lackey the chance to find his command and shut down the Cubs bats. Lackey pitched a dazzling two-hit shutout in 7.1 innings of action.
Amid Lackey's career-best playoff performance, he joined an exclusive list of pitchers who have blanked the Cubs in October, as ESPN Stats & Info observed:
Former teammate Jon Lester nearly matched Lackey's dominance on the mound for the Cubs, going 7.1 innings himself and giving up just five hits with nine strikeouts. But the Chicago ace couldn't keep it going in the eighth, conceding pinch hitter Thomas Pham's solo home run.
When Piscotty followed that up two batters later by cranking a two-run home run off Chicago reliever Pedro Strop, it was no secret who the game-changing performers were, as Jim Bowden of ESPN noted:
All the talk regarding young players in this series—and this postseason, really—revolved around the Cubs' Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell. That trio combined to go 3-for-10, but Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted which rookies had the upper hand Friday:
Without Jake Arrieta and his shutdown stuff on the mound, the Cubs looked like a different team early on. The troubles began right away, as the top of the Cardinals order jumped on Lester and made things difficult for him.
Piscotty got things going with a double as the second batter of the game, and Holliday responded accordingly. He knocked Piscotty in with an RBI single, marking St. Louis' first run since the turn of the month after being blanked in its season-ending series, per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com:
Most importantly, it gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead that they never looked intent on relinquishing. Despite Lester shaking off his first inning to shut down the Cardinals through the middle of the game, the Cubs bats struggled to solve Lackey.
The Cardinals ace had his best stuff going, and it showed throughout the first half of the game. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and hadn't given up a hit after five innings.
It marked Lackey's longest no-hit bid of 2015, as ESPN Stats & Info observed:
It would be short-lived, though, as Russell opened the sixth with a single that led to plenty of gasps from the crowd. Once Russell was on base, the Cardinals had much bigger worries than a squashed no-hitter.
Lackey responded by retiring the next two batters, but Russell stole second and advanced to third in the process. Then, Cubs leadoff man Dexter Fowler nearly changed the entire game with a deep shot to right field.
It looked gone at first, but the ball failed to carry and Piscotty caught it at the warning track to calm the nerves of Cards fans, as David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune noted:
Plenty of others thought Fowler had given the Cubs the lead with that close call, including ESPN's Mike Greenberg:
The jams didn't end there for St. Louis and Lackey, who had to fight through a Schwarber bunt single in the seventh that eventually led to an inning-ending double play. That concluded Lackey's night with a pearly seven-inning two-hitter.
For a pitcher with plenty of postseason experience with the Los Angeles Angels and Red Sox, it's pretty remarkable that Friday produced arguably Lackey's best playoff outing, per Goold:
With Lester dealing similarly well, the Cardinals didn't have much of an opportunity to extend their lead. He retired a long stretch of batters in the middle innings, 12 straight from the bottom of the fourth until the eighth.
But the Cubs rode Lester's arm just a bit too far. The Cardinals extended their lead to 2-0 when the pinch-hitting Pham cranked a solo shot. A switch to the bullpen didn't end Chicago's troubles, as Piscotty jacked a two-run home run two batters later.
The rookie duo joins a long list of Cardinals who had their coming-out party in the postseason, as Brett Edgerton of ESPN noted:
The playoffs couldn't have started much better for the Cardinals, who had a chance to shake off their late-season offensive struggles and set the tone against their bitter division rival. Lackey afforded them that opportunity with a magnificent seven innings of action.
As for the Cubs, their bats suddenly going cold is not the sign Joe Maddon and Co. wanted to see. It gives Chicago just one run in its last 15 innings of play, cooling off after a hot start in the Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh.
Post-Game Reaction
While the Cubs undoubtedly had their chances and simply couldn't solve the Cardinals' pitching, a plethora of Lackey's success involved painting the outside of the strike zone. That had the Cubs batters often questioning the umpire's calls, and it's not surprising that the talking continued past the final out.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon summed up the thoughts of his team with more silence than wods, as Jesse Rogers of ESPN noted:
That being said, Lackey also deserves a lot of credit for having the command to plant most of his pitches right on the corners and get the Cubs bats to sit on eventual strikes, as Mark Tomasik of Retrosimba.com noted:
What's Next
Chicago won't be counted out before Arrieta starts Game 3, but the Cubs will have to make something happen without him if they want to avoid giving him the ball facing a 2-0 series deficit. Kyle Hendricks (8-7) gets the start for Game 2 on Saturday evening, matching up against the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia (10-6).
If the Cubs aspire to make this a long series and return to Wrigley Field with any bit of momentum, they'll have to flush this offensive performance from their minds and hit the reset button.
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