Jake Arrieta allowed four hits in nine dominant innings and Chicago rolled to a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL wild-card game on Wednesday night.

Arrieta struck out 11 without a walk. He also dusted himself off getting plunked by Pittsburgh reliever Tony Watson to send the Cubs to the NL Division Series in St. Louis starting on Friday.

Dexter Fowler homered and scored three times for the Cubs. Kyle Schwarber, a rookie who began his season in Double-A, added a towering two-run shot off Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole as Chicago raced to an early lead and let Arrieta do the rest.

Pittsburgh was knocked out after finishing second in the majors with 98 victories this year. Last season, the Pirates also were shut out on four hits at home in the wild-card game, losing to Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

Arrieta laughed off an odd sequence in the seventh when Watson's fastball hit him in his left side. The benches and bullpens cleared when Watson was issued a warning, leading to little more than a few heated exchanges along the first base line.

Pirates utility player Sean Rodriguez, who'd already been pulled, was ejected and proceeded to give an unsuspecting water cooler a series of one-two combinations, eventually sending it tumbling to the ground.

Joe Maddon started Kris Bryant in left and Schwarber in right and Tommy La Stella at third - positions each had played only sparingly during the regular season - because it was the lineup that presented the most firepower.

Chicago went 8-11 this year against the Cardinals, their longtime rival. John Lackey is set to start the opener for St. Louis against Chicago's Jon Lester. The two were teammates on the 2013 Boston Red Sox team that won it all.