CHICAGO -- After he completely smothered the Cubs with the first shutout of his MLB career, celebrating in the clubhouse with his Cardinals teammates and taking a second to catch his breath, 6-foot-6 left-hander Jordan Montgomery grabbed his phone and immediately saw a message from his older brother, Jay.

¡°I¡¯ve got a text message from him waiting right now where he said, ¡®A Maddux!¡¯¡± said Montgomery, who moved into some elite company with the best performance of his career in Monday¡¯s 1-0 win over the Cubs.

A Maddux is a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, the inspiration for the achievement's name, accomplished that feat 13 times since 1988. Fittingly enough, the 6-foot-6 Montgomery reached that rarefied air Monday at Wrigley Field where Greg Maddux starred early in his career. Also, Montgomery¡¯s pitching coach in St. Louis is Mike Maddux, brother to the former Cubs and Braves star pitcher. On Monday, Montgomery needed just 99 pitches to blank the Cubs in 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Montgomery, who was acquired in a trade with the Yankees on Aug. 2, limited the Cubs to one hit while retiring the final 19 hitters of the game. He was a Christopher Morel double in the bottom of the third away from a perfect game. Montgomery (7-3 overall and 4-0 as a Cardinal) retired 27 of the 28 hitters he faced, struck out seven and didn¡¯t walk a batter, extending his streak of innings without a free pass to 15.

The first complete game of Montgomery¡¯s MLB career came on a night when the Cardinals bullpen was shorthanded after All-Star closer Ryan Helsley was moved from the paternity list to the restricted list following the birth of his first child.

¡°Man, that was exactly what we needed,¡± said manager Oliver Marmol, whose Cardinals won an eighth straight game. ¡°Outside of him just fitting in well and performing, he embraces competition, and this was a perfect example of it. We needed some length out of our starter because our ¡®pen was real thin going into that game. For him to give up one hit and go nine [innings], that¡¯s a pretty special outing.¡±

Montgomery¡¯s four outings with the Cardinals have been nearly flawless, and he¡¯s helped to stabilize a pitching staff that was rocked early on after Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz were hampered by injuries. In four outings with the Cardinals -- a stretch where he beat his former team (Yankees) and toppled two of St. Louis¡¯ biggest rivals (Brewers and Cubs) -- Montgomery has allowed just one earned run and 13 hits over 25 2/3 innings, while striking out 24 compared to just three walks.

¡°I play baseball to compete, I enjoy pitching and competing,¡± said Montgomery, who got to keep the ball from the best outing of his career. ¡°I have faith in my stuff, and you¡¯re going to hit a sinker into the ground. ¡­ I don¡¯t understand what the narrative is about me because I¡¯ve been a good pitcher my whole career. I expect a lot out of myself. I think my stuff plays, and you can always count on me competing out there.¡±