ST. LOUIS — John Lackey lived up to his reputation as a pitcher who craves the ball in October, helping the St. Louis Cardinals cool off the upstart Chicago Cubs.

Lackey outpitched old teammate Jon Lester, allowing two hits into the eighth inning, and rookies Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty each homered late for the Cardinals in a 4-0 victory Friday night in the opener of their NL Division Series.

“Tonight was special, for sure,” Lackey said. “The atmosphere was outstanding, the crowd was really into it, and I knew I’d have to pitch well.”

He did it in front of a standing room only crowd of 47,830 — the second-largest at 10-year-old Busch Stadium — with thousands of Cubs faithful mixed into the red throng for the first postseason game between the two long-time rivals.

“Incredible. I thought his fastball was about as good as we’ve seen. Period,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Anything you wanted to do, he pretty much had it.”

Yadier Molina did his part behind the plate, too, wearing a splint to protect a strained left thumb ligament that sidelined him since Sept. 20. He was 0 for 3 but seemingly had no issues.