St. Louis missed out on a chance to join Atlanta atop the wild-card standings when Brian Bogusevic scored on Angel Sanchez's bunt in the 10th inning Monday night, giving the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Cardinals.

"It was a pretty lively crowd for a Monday night, so it was fun," Bogusevic told MLB.com. "Winding down the season and we're not in the playoff race, but to have the game be meaningful is fun for us."

The Astros prevented the Cardinals from pulling even in the National League Wild Card race with the Braves. With two games remaining, St. Louis trails Atlanta by one game for the final playoff spot in the NL.

"It's disappointing because we got beat, but there's nothing else about it," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "I thought our effort was outstanding. Created a lot of situations, made a lot of plays, and they beat us. So what you do is you put everything into it, and if the other team beats you, you tip your cap. Period."

Slumping Atlanta lost to Philadelphia, but the Cardinals weren't able to take advantage of the opening. St. Louis rallied from three runs down to force extra innings.  Two of those runs came in the eighth off of a Lance Berkman double.

The Astros final rally started as Bogusevic doubled off Octavio Dotel (3-3) in the 10th and advanced on Jason Bourgeois' bunt. Sanchez then dropped a bunt in front of the plate, and Bogusevic charged home as Dotel mishandled his attempt to flip the ball to catcher Yadier Molina with his glove.

Astros closer Mark Melancon (8-4) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory.

Information from the Associated Press used in this report

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