LDN - Sports

Adams' homer lifts Cards over Dodgers in 16th

[July 23, 2016] ST. LOUIS -- As Friday night bled into Saturday morning and he was still playing baseball, Matt Adams thought it would be nice to go home.

So the St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman did just that, launching the second 16th-inning game-winner of his career at 12:25 a.m. to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3.

On an 0-1 pitch from Bud Norris (5-9), Los Angeles' ninth pitcher of the 5-hour, 10-minute endurance test, Adams unloaded a no-doubt, 444-foot clout over the St. Louis bullpen and into the bleachers in right-center field.

When the Cardinals last won a 16-inning game three years ago during the pressure of a September pennant race in Cincinnati, it was Adams who cracked the tie-breaking homer just after midnight.

"That was definitely not in the back of my mind," joked Adams.

Instead, Adams marched to the plate with a plan against Norris, who started Wednesday night and absorbed an 8-1 loss in Washington.

"I know he likes to throw a fastball and a cutter," Adams said. "I think the catcher wanted a fastball away, but I was able to get the bat head out."

The fireworks which normally accompany homers at Busch Stadium didn't go off this time, but Adams' bat served as the final explosion in St. Louis' fifth straight win, tying a season high. At 52-44, the Cardinals are eight games over .500 for the first time and have drawn within a game of the Dodgers (54-44) for the National League's first wild-card spot while tying Miami for wild-card number two.

Adams' game-winner was just the second hit for St. Louis' 3-through-6 hitters in 26 at-bats. Los Angeles shortstop Corey Seager had four by himself, including an RBI single five pitches into the game. At one point, the Dodgers were outhitting the Cardinals 11-1, yet the score was still tied at 2.

"We were scratching and clawing," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "Guys were making plays. Our pitchers were making pitches."

But it appeared that Los Angeles, which went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position after Seager's hit, would notch the win anyway. Justin Turner's one-out solo homer off closer Seung Hwan Oh in the ninth snapped a 2-2 tie, giving Turner seven July homers and a career-high 18 for the season.

However, the one NL hitter who might be hotter than Turner had different ideas of justice. After Kenley Jansen obtained two quick outs, Jedd Gyorko pounced on a mistake, lining a 401-foot shot into the seats in left for his 12th homer of the year and his fifth in five games.

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"That was a ball that was supposed to be away and it leaked down and in," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Gyorko's nitro zone is down and in."

No one found anyone's nitro zone through the first six extra innings. Neither team managed a hit until a Yadier Molina infield hit in the 14th. Neither team even pushed a man to third, although the Cardinals got men to first and second in the 15th before Norris induced a double play ball from Stephen Piscotty.

Seth Maness (1-2) got the win with a clean 16th, but Tyler Lyons may have been the game's first star for St. Louis, going 4 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and allowing only one hit.

"You never really know what to expect in extra innings," Lyons said. "I just knew I was going to go as long as I could."

Neither starter was involved in the decision. Los Angeles' Brandon McCarthy lasted 6 1/3 innings before departing with a leg cramp, giving up just one hit and two runs, one earned, with three walks and four strikeouts.

Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha maneuvered in and out of trouble for most of his six innings, scattering 10 hits but allowing just two runs. Wacha walked one and fanned four.

NOTES: St. Louis LF Matt Holliday (facial abrasions) was back in the lineup Friday night after leaving Thursday night's game when he took a 95 mph fastball from San Diego's Andrew Cashner off his nose. ... Los Angeles SS Corey Seager (stomach flu) returned to the starting lineup after a three-game hiatus, but RF Yasiel Puig (hamstring) didn't start after leaving Thursday's game in Washington early. ... Cardinals 1B/OF Brandon Moss (ankle) ran the bases Friday and All-Star 2B Matt Carpenter (right oblique) has been cleared to start limited baseball activities.

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