Baseball-Lackey leads Cardinals to win against Cubs

(Adds details, quotes) ST. LOUIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) - John Lackey was masterful on the mound as St. Louis beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 in the opener of their National League Division Series on Friday. Lackey carried a no-hitter into the sixth with precise command and left in the eighth after yielding just two hits, leaving relievers Kevin Siegrist and Trevor Rosenthal to complete a combined three-hit shutout. A tense 1-0 duel between Lackey and former Boston Red Sox team mate Jon Lester was broken open in the eighth when Tommy Pham slammed a pinch-hit home run and fellow-rookie Stephen Piscotty followed with a two-run blast off reliever Pedro Strop. "Tonight was pretty special for sure," said Lackey. "I felt pretty good tonight." The victory gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series that raised the stakes in the 123-year rivalry between the clubs, who are facing one another for the first time in a playoff series after 2,363 previous clashes. The Cubs had come to St. Louis on a high after beating Pittsburgh in a wild card playoff game with visions of taking the next step in pursuit of the team's first World Series title in 107 years. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Lackey was at his best. "Incredible. We talk a lot about him being a big-game pitcher and all the experience he's had," Matheny said. "He thrives in these situations and just takes it there and goes a step further. "His fastball was as good as we've seen. He was in the top of the zone, used the bottom of the zone, did anything he wanted to do. He controlled the counts and trusted the defense behind him." Lackey, 36, went 7-1/3 innings, walked one and struck out five while throwing just 86 pitches in improving his career post-season record to 8-5 and lowering his playoffs ERA to 2.90. He lost the no-hitter when Addison Russell grounded a single up the middle while the only other hit registered by the Cubs against him was a bunt single by rookie Kyle Schwarber leading off the seventh. Lester, who gave up a first-inning run on a double by Piscotty and an RBI single from Matt Holiday, was equally impressive as Lackey until the eighth. After Pham's home run, he walked Matt Carpenter and was relieved by Strop. All three hits for Chicago, whose hopes of breaking out of their long time losing slump is built on the promise of their rookies, came from first-year players Russell and Schwarber, who also singled off closer Rosenthal in the ninth. But rookie slugger Kris Bryant was held hitless and the Cubs' vaunted trio failed to impact the game to the degree of the Cardinals' duo of Piscotty and Pham. (Reporting by Brett Wolf; Writing by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)