St. Louis Cardinals Beat the Houston Astros to Tie the Atlanta Braves for the Wild Card

The St. Louis Cardinals are tied with Atlanta for the NL wild-card lead, getting a clutch two-run triple from Ryan Theriot in the seventh inning of a 13-6 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

The sliding Braves lost 7-1 to Philadelphia, sending the race for the NL's final playoff spot to the final day of the regular season. If the teams are tied after Wednesday's game, St. Louis will host a one-game playoff on Thursday night.

"You can't ask for more," manager Tony La Russa told MLB.com. "Except to win the game "It's kind of fed us here the last few days. One hundred twenty years of baseball, and this is one of those historic runs to tie. But there's a different story between tying and finishing it off. Tomorrow we'll see if we can go another step. But yeah, the history part of it has added to the fun."

The Cardinals trailed 5-0 early and appeared to be headed for a second straight loss to the Astros. But St. Louis scored five times in the fourth and erased a 6-5 deficit with a four-run seventh.

Lance Berkman hit a two-out single and scored on Allen Craig's tying double. Yadier Molina walked before Theriot's triple made it 8-6.

Information from the Associated Press used in this report