out, stealing second, moving to third on a single, and scoring on Lance Berkman's sacrifice fly in the first. The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run by Albert Pujols. In the third, Beltrán singled with two outs and scored on Jeff Bagwell's double to tie the game. Again, the Cardinals responded when Édgar Rentería hit a two-run single scoring Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen in the bottom of the inning. Mike Lamb's home run in the fourth cut the Cardinals' lead to 4−3. In the top of the ninth inning Bagwell hit a two-out single off Jason Isringhausen, scoring Morgan Ensberg for the tying run. The game went into extra innings and ended when Jim Edmonds, who hit 42 home runs in the regular season, hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 12th off Dan Miceli, sending the series to a Game 7 showdown. Game 7 Thursday, October 21, 2004 at Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri The final, deciding Game 7 started off with Astros' leadoff man Craig Biggio smacking a home run in the game's first at-bat off Cardinals' starter Jeff Suppan to make it 1–0. The Astros' threat continued in the second by putting two men on, but, thanks to a tremendous catch by center fielder Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals were able to get out of the inning unscathed. In the third, however, the Astros made it 2–0 with Carlos Beltrán, who walked and stole second, scoring on Jeff Bagwell's sacrifice fly aided by Edmonds's error. The Cardinals cut it to 2−1 in the bottom of the inning when Tony Womack hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Jeff Suppan's bunt groundout. Then in the sixth Albert Pujols doubled to score Roger Cedeno from third to tie the game and Scott Rolen put the Redbirds ahead with a two-run home run off Roger Clemens. St. Louis added another run in the eighth off Roy Oswalt when pinch hitter Marlon Anderson hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on Larry Walker's single. Jason Isringhausen shut down Houston in the ninth to win the Cardinals their first National League pennant in 17 years. Composite box 2004 NLCS (4–3): St. Louis Cardinals over Houston Astros Notes External links 2004 NLCS at Baseball-Reference National League Championship Series