HOUSTON (KRT) – In the Houston clubhouse, about 20 minutes after 42,760 screaming fans had watched the Astros pull off another stunning victory, outfielder Craig Biggio was asked about center fielder Carlos Beltran.

“You mean Superman?” Biggio said, flashing a victory smile. “Superman you can’t say enough about. But nothing surprises us. He’s one of the best five-tool players in the game.”

True. Beltran can hit, run, throw and catch. But it’s that fifth tool that’s left everybody in awe and helped push the Astros even with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.

Beltran is hitting with power at a pace that none has ever seen in the major league baseball playoffs.

Beltran’s fourth home run in four NLCS games broke a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning and lifted the Astros to a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals in Game 4 at Minute Maid Park on Sunday.

The home run came off a breaking ball from reliever Julian Tavarez that almost skipped in the dirt before Beltran drove it into the Astros bullpen.

Beltran now has eight home runs in nine games since the playoffs started, tying the all-time postseason record set by Barry Bonds in 2002. Bonds needed 17 games to do it, including seven in the World Series.

“This is great, this is what you live for,” said Beltran, once again trying to explain his stunning power surge. “This is a dream come true. I’m not looking for home runs. I’m just trying to go up there and hit the ball hard.”

His latest blast capped the Astros’ rally after they fell behind 3-1 after the first inning and 5-3 after the fourth. The Astros were lucky to be that close, because starter Roy Oswalt was struggling to keep his pitches down through four innings.

Only his curve ball saved him.

“They just couldn’t quite put us away,” Astros manager Phil Garner said. “That was, I thought, the turning point of the ballgame.”

Cardinals starter Jason Marquis struggled almost as much as Oswalt, giving up a run-scoring double to Jeff Bagwell in the first and a two-run double to Lance Berkman in the fourth.

Berkman is right behind him, and he made it 5-4 with a home run to lead off the sixth against reliever Kiko Calero. Berkman is now hitting .467 in this series and leads the Astros with eight RBI – three more than Beltran.

“I feel pretty good,” Berkman said. “The playoffs are funny because people judge you and they grade you on such a small number of at-bats. You almost feel like panic mode, because if you go 0-for-1, that’s a slump in postseason.”

Two outs later, Jose Vizcaino doubled down the left-field line and backup catcher Raul Chavez, starting in place of Brad Ausmus flared a single into center to tie the game.

Oswalt left after six and reliever Dan Wheeler might have pitched the most crucial inning for the Astros. Facing the Cardinals’ best hitters in the seventh, he gave up a single to Albert Pujols to start the inning.

Pujols then advanced to second on Chavez’s passed ball, but Wheeler struck out Scott Rolen, got Jim Edmonds to line out to center and retired Edgar Renteria on a weak grounder to end the inning.

“Wheeler came in and did a great job,” Bagwell said.

That left it up to “Superman” to put the Astros ahead with his home run and Brad Lidge, “The Bionic Man,” to pitch two scoreless innings for the second straight day.

“This is what we had to do,” Bagwell said. “Everytime this team has been challenged, we’ve come back with fire. Both teams have been through much.

“Now it’s a best-of-three. We have three more games to beat each other up.”