Lackey, Cubs shut out rival Cardinals

Photo by Jeff Curry / USATODAY

by Taylor Lawson - Correspondent - Mon Apr 18 23:17:33 GMT-05:00 2016

It was a much anticipated, early season showdown in St. Louis for the rivals Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals with former Cardinals Jason Heyward and John Lackey returning to town. Lackey proved more than up to the task as he led the Cubs to 5-0 win with seven shutout innings.

Heyward and Lackey both played for the Cardinals last season and Heyward, in particular, was welcomed back to Busch with rounds of booing by the Cardinals fans that echoed throughout the stadium. Heyward went 0 for 4 at the plate, but did made two nice catches in the outfield.

The game started out as a pitcher’s duel between Lackey (3-0) and Mike Leake (0-2) as both pitchers held the other team scoreless through the first five innings.

It was not till the top of the 6th inning that the first run was scored when Fowler hit his third home run of the season with a bomb to center field.

The runs started to pour in at the top of the 7th inning for the Cubs. Jorge Soler hit into fielder’s choice that scored Kris Bryant. Then after a throwing error by Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz, Miguel Montero was safe at third and Soler was safe at second. Russell then hit a sacrifice fly to score Montero. Lackey then hit a base hit that scored Matt Szczur, who was a pinch runner for Soler, which gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Ben Zobrist would score another run in the 8th inning to put the finishing touches on the Cubs' MLB best 10-3 start to the season which is the best record in the MLB.

Lackey pitched seven shutout innings with only four hits, one walk, and an astounding 11 strikeouts.

The Cubs will play the Cardinals in the second game of the series in St. Louis tomorrow night at 8:15 pm ET.