HOUSTON (AP) – John Smoltz, Adam LaRoche and J.D. Drew saved the Atlanta Braves from another quick playoff exit.

The Braves pounced on Houston’s bullpen as soon as Roger Clemens was gone, rallying from a three-run deficit for a 6-5 victory Sunday that tied the best-of-five NL series at two games apiece.

LaRoche hit a tying, three-run homer in the sixth inning and Drew singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth, handing the Astros their latest agonizing loss in October and forcing the series back to Atlanta for Game 5 on Monday.

“We get to go back home and the plane ride’s a lot easier,” Smoltz said. “We worked very hard to get home-field advantage and we need to take care of it. I feel like we got a break today.”

Jaret Wright, the Game 1 loser, starts for the Braves on Monday at Turner Field against 20-game winner Roy Oswalt, who didn’t get a decision in Game 2 and will pitch on three days’ rest.

Working on short rest himself, Clemens left after five innings with a 5-2 lead, but the Braves rallied to snap Houston’s 19-game home winning streak. It was another wrenching postseason loss for the Astros, still looking to win a playoff series for the first time in their 43-season history.

Houston tried to mount its own comeback in the bottom of the ninth, when Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman singled off Smoltz with one out to put runners at the corners. Smoltz then got his record 14th postseason win when Jeff Kent grounded into a game-ending double play.

On the verge of its third consecutive first-round loss, Atlanta made its move right after Chad Qualls replaced Clemens. Chipper Jones singled, Andruw Jones doubled with one out and LaRoche homered into the Astros’ bullpen in right.

The winning rally began when Russ Springer, who relieved Brad Lidge to start the ninth, hit Rafael Furcal with a pitch with two outs and Furcal stole second.

Drew, hitless in three previous at-bats Sunday and 2-for-15 in the series to that point, singled to right-center, with Furcal scoring easily.

Coming into Sunday, Clemens was 0-3 with a 6.98 ERA on three days’ rest. He was making a quick turnaround for the first time since April 11, 2002. And he hadn’t pitched on short rest in the postseason since a loss to Oakland in 2000.

Not surprisingly, the 42-year-old Clemens got off to a rough start.

He gave up three straight singles to begin the second, with Andruw Jones driving in Chipper Jones. LaRoche followed by grounding into a double play that scored Johnny Estrada to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead.

Clemens got the Astros’ offense going in the second with his first postseason RBI, a sacrifice fly that scored Kent.

Cardinals reach NLCS

LOS ANGELES – Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals sure looked like the best team in baseball.

St. Louis advanced to the NL championship series for the third time in five years, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Sunday night to win their first-round playoff 3-1.

Jeff Suppan settled down after a shaky start, Pujols hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer off loser Wilson Alvarez in the fourth inning and the Cardinals kept the Dodgers searching for their first postseason series victory since winning the 1988 World Series.

St. Louis, a major league-best 105-57 during the regular season, starts the NLCS at home Wednesday against the winner of Monday night’s fifth game between Atlanta and Houston. The Cardinals are trying to become the first team with the top regular-season record to win the World Series since the 1998 New York Yankees.

As Pujols’ towering fly ball sailed just over left fielder Jayson Werth into the lower left-field stands, the raucous crowd of 56,268 – largest crowd in Dodger Stadium history – went silent.