For the second game in a row, Miles dinged the Houston closer for a critical hit, and on Sunday it was the game-winner. The switch-hitting infielder poked a two-out, two-strike, two-run double in the top of the 12th inning to give the Cardinals a 7-5 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park. A day earlier, Miles' RBI single off Lidge forced extra innings in a game Albert Pujols eventually won with a home run.

The Cardinals have won three straight going into the All-Star break after winning just three of their previous 16 games. They carry a four-game lead into the intermission, and the defending National League champion Astros now trail the Redbirds by six.

"I'm going to have to review these games to believe that we won," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "Both clubs are so even, and we both did heroic things to get runs on the board. We both had chances to put it away and missed. It was really evenly played the last couple games. It just happened to go our way."

Braden Looper pitched two innings for the victory, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th. Looper was also helped by a bizarre play in the 11th when pitcher Roy Oswalt, who appeared to have doubled, was called out at first base on an appeal. Oswalt, pinch-hitting because the Astros had run out of bench players, was ruled not to have touched first base.

Outfielder Juan Encarnacion first said something. Encarnacion believed he saw Oswalt miss the base, and he also noticed first-base umpire Bob Davidson taking a second look at the area. Encarnacion mentioned the play to La Russa, and Looper tossed the ball to Pujols for the inning-ending out.

Called in to pitch the ensuing inning, Lidge hit David Eckstein with a pitch to open the 12th before So Taguchi singled to right field. Lidge actually retired both Pujols and Rolen, but a wild pitch sent the runners to second and third with two outs. Miles' squibber down the right-field line was perfectly placed for two bases and two runs, and the Cards went on to another dramatic win in Houston.

"He started me off with heaters, and when he got ahead of me, fastballs down and away," Miles said. "[He] painted them good. Then he tried to bury a slider a couple times, and luckily I fouled it off a couple times. Then he buried one and moved the runners up. And then a fastball, outside corner, and I just put a good little stroke on it."

Miles came up through the Astros' system, and was a friend and teammate of Lidge's in Class A ball.

With Isringhausen and Looper both already used, La Russa called on Hancock to close out the game. The righty mowed down the top three spots in the Houston order, striking out Willy Taveras before getting two popups to finish it off. It was Hancock's first career save.

"You don't think about it," Hancock said. "You just go out and do your job. It's being in the right place at the right time."

Lost in the madness was yet another fine, but unrewarded performance by Chris Carpenter. The All-Star right-hander pitched into the ninth and departed the game with a lead before a base hit and a sacrifice fly off Jason Isringhausen tied things up and required extras. Carpenter was charged with five earned runs after a scoring change on what was initially ruled a Hector Luna error.

Nonetheless, he had overpowering stuff, and it's hard to believe that Houston hitters touched him for four extra-base hits. Carpenter ranks fourth in the National League with a 3.08 ERA, but he has only seven wins in 17 starts.

Had he not allowed Chris Burke's two-run, two-out homer in the eighth, Carpenter might have had not only the win, but his first complete game. However, Burke did hit the shot, turning a three-run Cards cushion into a one-run margin going to the ninth.

"With the stuff that I had and the way I was throwing the ball all night long, I can't give up the runs to get them back in the game," Carpenter said. "Unfortunately, I left the ball up to Burke."

Carpenter had that three-run lead thanks to a tie-breaking homer in the top of the eighth by Scott Rolen. St. Louis entered the eighth trailing, 2-1, but two singles and an error tied it up and put two on for Rolen. The third baseman smoked a long ball to left off of Dan Wheeler, putting the Cards ahead for the second time.

St. Louis goes into the All-Star break with a four-game lead over second-place Cincinnati in the National League Central. Milwaukee is in third, 5 1/2 games back, while the Astros have fallen six out in fourth place.