Cubs left fielder Joc Pederson stepped to the plate to face Cardinals starter Carlos Martínez on Friday with the Busch Stadium crowd as loud as could be. It was Chicago’s first game in St. Louis since Sept. 29, 2019, and the park felt as full as capacity limits would allow. Many fans wore Cardinal red, plenty of others wore Cubbie blue.

For the first time in a long time, it felt like a real, true, Cubs-Cardinals game, one Chicago would go on to win big, 12-3.

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“It's early still, but I mean, I had a little bit of emotion where it felt like a normal, big series, rivalry series in St. Louis,” manager David Ross said.

“This is definitely the most normal it's felt so far,” Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks said.

What better way for Pederson to put a stamp on Chicago’s return to St. Louis -- and what better way to introduce himself to this historic rivalry -- than to tee off on the very first pitch he saw.

Pederson took less time to prove he’ll be a thorn in the Cardinals’ side than it took the Cubs to drive down Interstate 55, launching Martínez’s first pitch -- a cutter over the heart of the plate -- deep to right-center and putting Chicago up out of the gate. Despite the hostile crowd that greets the Cubs each time they hit St. Louis, if Pederson can lead off every game this well, they might just push for more trips to the Gateway to the West.

“You hear the guys just losing it, jumping out to a 1-0 lead,” Hendricks said of the atmosphere in the dugout after the home run. “We obviously know these are all big games [when] we face these guys, so just to get any kind of edge we can get is huge, and there's nothing bigger than that.”

Pederson wasn’t the only star to shine in the all-around team effort to pull within two games of the first-place Redbirds in the National League Central.

Each of the starting eight position players reached base at least once, with Anthony Rizzo, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner each putting together multi-hit games. When the Cubs’ lead was down to just one in the top of the eighth, an eight-run explosion gave Chicago more than enough room on the scoreboard.

All of it came in support of Hendricks, who picked up the quality start and his fourth win of the year as he was charged with three runs (just one earned) over 6 2/3 innings.

Pederson’s first-pitch shot, however -- the first for any Cubs batter at Busch Stadium since Junior Lake hit one off Adam Wainwright on April 12, 2014 -- provided the ultimate highlight in Chicago’s return to St. Louis.

Since coming back on May 4 from a stint on the injured list caused by tendinitis in his left wrist, Pederson has seen his offensive numbers skyrocket. He’s slashing .396/.433/.528 in 14 games in May, a steep climb up from the .137/.262/.235 line he had through 16 games in April.

“Baseball is a tough game and sometimes, when you're in the thick of it, it kind of gets sped up on you a little bit,” Pederson said. “I don't think anyone ever wants to be hurt, but you take advantage of the time you can, get back to a place of calmness and where you're able to compete.”

The power numbers aren't all there, as Pederson has just four extra-base hits in May. But he had been consistently hitting the ball well -- the Cubs’ broadcast had his average exit velocity at 96.1 mph since May 7 -- so it seemed to be only a matter of time until he finally got ahold of one.

Turns out, he just needed one pitch in St. Louis for it to happen.

“He's been a real spark plug,” Ross said. “We talk about the offense and getting going, I mean, since he's been back and manning the leadoff spot versus right-handed pitching, we've done a pretty nice job. His at-bats have been quality. Everybody kept asking me, 'When's he gonna hit homers again?' And you know, he's a professional hitter. You saw how fast that average climbed up, taking balls the other way, taking his hits, and he can play the game and look for what he wants to look for.”