National League
Roger Clemens came out of the bullpen to rescue the Houston Astros and Chris Burke ended the longest postseason game in baseball history with a home run in the 18th inning, lifting Houston over the Atlanta Braves 7-6 Sunday and into the NL championship series.
The Braves took a five-run lead into the eighth, and were poised to send this first-round series back to Atlanta for a decisive Game 5 Monday night. Instead, Lance Berkman hit a grand slam in the eighth and Brad Ausmus tied it with a two-out homer in the ninth barely beyond center fielder Andruw Jones' outstretched glove.
Then, at 6-all, the Braves and Astros began the real endurance test that wound up lasting 5 hours, 50 minutes. The previous longest postseason game also occurred in Houston -- the New York Mets clinched the 1986 NLCS with a 16-inning win at the Astrodome.
With the 43-year-old Clemens pitching three innings in his first relief appearance since 1984 -- and this time atoning for a poor start in Game 2 -- the Astros advanced to play the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS starting Wednesday night at Busch Stadium.
It will be the first NLCS rematch since Pittsburgh and Atlanta played in 1992. Last October, the Cardinals beat Clemens in Game 7, denying the Astros their first World Series appearance.
Burke entered the game in the 10th inning as a pinch-runner. He came up with one out in the 18th against rookie Joey Devine, and launched a drive over the left-field wall.
Burke was mobbed his teammates at the plate after only the sixth series-ending home run in history, and the first since Aaron Boone sent the Yankees over Boston in the 11th inning of Game 7 in the 2003 ALCS.
Batting just before Burke, Clemens took a mighty swing and missed against Devine before striking out. Clemens has never hit a home run in the majors.
Clemens first entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 15th, and had a sacrifice bunt after a leadoff walk by Craig Biggio. But after another walk, Morgan Ensberg grounded into an inning-ending double play.
"I'm sure proud of the guys," Clemens said. "It's been a lot of work for us. How 'bout the kid?''
Standing next to Clemens, the 25-year-old Burke was beaming.
"I'm just glad I could do my part," Burke said. "It was draining, mentally draining."
"It's kind of a microcosm of our season," he said.
The Astros started off 15-30 before rallying to claim the wild-card spot, though they finished 11 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central.
American League
AP, New York
Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees are still around -- by the slimmest of margins.
Slow-footed catcher Jorge Posada barely beat the tag for the go-ahead run on Jeter's seventh-inning bouncer, and the New York Yankees scratched out a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels to force a decisive fifth game in California.
Pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra came through with a tying single and, with Yankee Stadium rocking, Rivera retired Vladimir Guerrero for the final out to finish off a two-inning save as the Yankees evened the best-of-five AL playoff series at two games apiece.
After a rainout Saturday postponed Game 4, the teams must now fly cross-country overnight to play Monday in Anaheim at 8:15pm EDT. Both scheduled pitchers were already waiting out West -- Game 1 winner Mike Mussina and Angels ace Bartolo Colon.
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