Los Angeles ? Jose Lima and Shawn Green had big nights, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers their first postseason win in 16 years and staving off elimination in their first-round series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Lima followed two miserable outings by Los Angeles starters with a five-hitter, Green hit a pair of solo homers, and the Dodgers beat St. Louis, 4-0, Saturday night to cut the Cardinals’ lead in the best-of-five NL division series to 2-1.

“It feels great to be in Dodger blue,” Lima said. “The fans deserve it.”

Working against one of the most formidable lineups in baseball, the animated Lima pitched his first complete game since 2001, striking out four and walking one. It was second shutout of his career.

After he retired the Cardinals in the eighth, the crowd of 55,992 — largest at Dodger Stadium since Game 2 of the 1988 World Series — chanted, “Lima, Lima, Lima.” The 32-year-old right-hander came out of the dugout to take a curtain call.

“I don’t know that you can do it much better,” Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. “That’s not bad for someone who came to spring training not guaranteed a job.”

Lima signed a minor-league contract with the Dodgers last winter.

Tracy said had the Cardinals put a runner on base in the ninth, he would have gone to closer Eric Gagne.

It didn’t happen, as Lima retired Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen on fly balls and Jim Edmonds on a popup. Lima threw 109 pitches.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Lima didn’t throw many balls down the middle.

“We had a lot of trouble getting to the top of the ball, made a lot of outs in the air,” La Russa said. “He did a very good job.”

Odalis Perez, rocked for six runs in 22/3 innings in Tuesday’s opener, starts tonight for the Dodgers against Jeff Suppan.