Rookies Piscotty, Pham homer in Cardinals win
The St. Louis Cardinals are now two wins away from their fifth consecutive National League Championship Series after a 4-0 Game 1 victory, and they have two rookies to thank.
With starter John Lackey doing his part to hold a 1-0 through seven innings, 27-year-old rookie Tommy Pham doubled the Cardinals' lead with a solo blast in the bottom of the eighth.
"You know, you talk about young players that sometimes you wonder how they're going to respond when you put 'em on a stage like this, but not with Tommy," manager Mike Matheny said. "You know he's going to be there. He's been looking forward to this for a long time, and tonight he did a great job with it."
Two batters later, it was 24-year-old Stephen Piscotty, who entered with just 63 games of major-league experience - doubling the lead once more with a two-run shot to left. The Chicago Cubs had no response as the Cardinals held on for the 4-0 win.
(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)
Matheny had kind words for Piscotty postgame as well.
"Stephen has been as consistent as any young player you could ever bring into a situation where we throw him in," Matheny said. "Not just into the big leagues, but we throw him in a position where he hasn't had a lot of reputation and he does a great job and just the consistency and the way he goes about his business.
"He's got great baseball IQ."
An incredible performance from the pair who combined to play 135 games for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds earlier this year.
They'll look to continue to contribute with the big club in Game 2 on Saturday.