Cards deck Dodgers in 16th on Adams’ blast

ST. LOUIS — On a night when the Dodgers squandered repeated chances with runners in scoring position, the Cardinals made a little go a long way to outlast Los Angeles, 4-3, in 16 innings Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Jedd Gyorko denied Kenley Jansen his 29th save with a two-out, game-tying homer in the ninth, and Matt Adams sealed the team’s second walk-off victory in as many nights hours later with a one-out homer in the 16th. The victory extended the Cardinals’ winning streak to five and boosted the club a season-best eight games above .500.

“I’m not sure how he had that much left in the tank to be honest,” Gyorko said of Adams, who now has two career 16th-inning, game-winning homers. “I know I wouldn’t have been able to hit one that far. That was a big win for us. We’re finding ways to win. That’s what good teams do.”

The 16-inning game tied the longest ever between these two franchises, matching contests from Aug. 21, 1963, and May 2, 1957. The two clubs combined to use 16 pitchers, the last of which, Bud Norris, was summoned two days after throwing 90 pitches in a start against Washington. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had exhausted all of his other available relievers.

“We were stretched as thin as we could go,” Roberts said. “I can’t say enough about what Bud did. Two days off and taking the ball to try to give us a boost was huge.”

Norris worked around a leadoff double in the 15th and retired Matt Holliday to open the 16th. Two pitches later, Adams crushed his second career walk-off homer and 11th home run this season to end a game five hours and 10 minutes after it began.

“I wasn’t trying to go up there and hit a home run,” said Adams, whose 444-foot blast was his longest this season. “I was trying to go up there and put a up a good at-bat, get on base and pass it to the next hitter.”

The walk-off celebration was set up by lefty Tyler Lyons, who was terrific over 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Lyons threw 53 pitches, limited the Dodgers to one hit, and left the Cardinals set up well for the weekend by preserving two unused pitchers in the ‘pen. Seth Maness pitched a clean top of the 16th to earn the victory.

Gyorko’s homer, his fifth this week, followed Justin Turner’s go-ahead blast off Cardinals reliever Seung Hwan Oh earlier in the inning. Leading up to the ninth, the Dodgers had mustered two runs despite tallying 12 hits. Ten of those came off Cardinals starter Michael Wacha. The Dodgers’ inability to find a timely hit with runners in scoring position — they finished 1-for-13 in such spots — stalled those repeated chances.

“For the majority of the game, they were doubling, tripling us [in hits] — shoot, we were outhit 11-1 at one point — and we were still in the game,” Cardinals manager Mike …

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