The St. Louis Cardinals conducted business as usual against the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the NLDS and the New York Mets surprised the MLB in their victory over Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
St. Louis took down the Cubs 4-0 behind starter John Lackey's masterful performance. The right-hander threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings and gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out five. Chicago scattered only three hits and managed two walks on the night.
Lackey's former teammate on the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, Jon Lester, didn't have as good a night. The left-hander also tossed 7 1/3 innings, but surrendered three earned runs on five hits and one walk. He struck out nine Cardinals, but St. Louis got to him in the seventh when outfielder Tommy Pham blasted a pinch-hit home run to put the Cards up 2-0. Lester then walked third baseman Matt Carpenter and manager Joe Maddon removed him from the game.
Pedro Strop came on in relief, but he let up a two-run homer to rookie outfielder Stephen Piscotty. St. Louis extended their lead to 4-0 and that was it for Game 1 of the NLDS.
Game 2 will take place on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET when Cardinals' left-hander Jaime Garcia faces Cubs' right-hander Kyle Hendricks.
In Los Angeles, the New York Mets followed the script for the unpredictable 2015 MLB playoffs. Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw met for an old fashioned pitcher's duel on Friday night and made MLB history with their performances.
The two struck out a total of 24 batters (13 for deGrom, 11 for Kershaw) and became the first pitchers to record at least 11 strikeouts each in a postseason game. deGrom also became the first pitcher to ever strikeout the first six batters he faced in his postseason debut.
The right-hander got the win after the Mets defeated Los Angeles 3-1. Daniel Murphy smacked a solo home run off Kershaw in the fourth inning and David Wright added a two-run single off reliever Pedro Baez in the seventh (both runs were charged to Kershaw) to put New York up 3-0 late in the game.
Kershaw was handed his sixth career playoff lost (his fifth consecutive) and the Dodgers dropped the first game of the NLDS. The left-hander surrendered three earned runs on four hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings.
deGrom tossed seven scoreless innings and gave up only five hits and a walk. Closer Jeurys Familia recorded the save and the Mets got their first postseason win since 2006.
Game 2 will take place tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET when Zack Greinke battles Noah Syndergaard as the Dodgers hope to even up the series.
