All of a sudden, the Cardinals can win the close ones

2:58 AM ET

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had taken to marking certain victories as potential momentum starters earlier this season, but after his predictions failed to come true time after time, he decided simply to let the season unfold.

So, he didn’t make any bold pronouncements after the Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the San Diego Padres Wednesday or rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the final two innings Thursday. And he wasn’t going to start after they outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers in 16 innings for a 4-3 win on Friday either.

Matheny knew they had all but stolen this one.

“Shoot, they’d outhit us, what, 11-1 at one point,” Matheny said. “To us, that’s just scratching and clawing and figuring out how to stay in it.”

The Cardinals have equaled their longest winning streak of the season, five games, and if the season ended today, they would be alive for a playoff spot. They are in a tie with the Miami Marlins for the second wild-card spot and just a game behind the Dodgers for the first.

Matt Adams is at the center of the celebration after his 16th-inning home run Friday allowed the Cardinals to walk off with a victory. Tim Spyers/Icon Sportswire

If anything, these last few games have been about the Cardinals’ luck evening out. They are finally winning close games, even in circumstances like Friday’s, when they probably had no business being in the game so late. The Dodgers let the …

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