HOUSTON - Carlos Beltran sent Minute Maid Park into a frenzy. He drove Julian Tavarez a little crazy, too.

In an October he has stamping as all his own, Beltran struck again Sunday. He homered in a record fifth straight postseason game, sending the Houston Astros over the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 and tying the NL championship series at 2.

Beltran homered into the Houston bullpen in right field, hitting a tiebreaking drive in the seventh inning. Making it more special, he connected off Tavarez.

Before Game 1, Tavarez made this assessment: "We don't look at the Houston Astros like this is a great team. They are good, but we are better than them. We are the best because we've got 108 wins. We've proved it."

Beltran reached down to golf a 2-2 slider, and matched Barry Bonds' 2002 mark with his eighth home run in a single postseason.

"There's no better feeling," he said.

Jeff Bagwell was the next batter, and the excitable Tavarez threw a fastball over his head. The two players shouted at each other, plate umpire Mike Winters warned against further trouble and play resumed without any problems.

When the inning ended, Tavarez shouted at himself while walking to the dugout. Once on the bench, he tried to rip off the bullpen phone and slammed down a water cooler.

"I just lost my cool," Tavarez said.

The tantrum was replayed on the stadium scoreboard, and that bothered Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

"I think ever since I've been around, since 1996, the Astros are as classy an organization as anything I've met in the National League," he said. "But even Sinatra clears his throat, and I think that was below their standards and that was disappointing."

Beltran ensured the teams will go back to Busch Stadium to settle who goes to the World Series. Meantime, there's Game 5 tonight, with Brandon Backe starting for Houston against Woody Williams.

Beltran broke the record set by Jeffrey Leonard and tied by Juan Gonzalez in 1996 for consecutive postseason games with a home run.

"Barry Bonds is the best hitter in baseball. I don't think he could have hit that pitch," Tavarez said. "I can't believe he hit it."

Said Astros manager Phil Garner: "This is as good as I've ever seen anybody swing the bat, not just Carlos Beltran.

"He's some kind of locked in."

Beltran is getting richer and richer with each swing. The switch-hitting, All-Star center fielder might be the prime free agent on the market once the season ends - at this moment, he's aiming for a ring.

"I'm just being relaxed, patient at the plate," Beltran said.

Sluggers again dominated.

Albert Pujols hit his fifth homer of the postseason for St. Louis, then came close to a go-ahead two-run shot in the ninth against Brad Lidge. But the ball was caught on the warning track, and the Astros' closer struck out Scott Rolen for his second straight save.

Lance Berkman also homered for Houston, giving the teams a combined 19 home runs through only four games.

Dan Wheeler wound up with the win, pitching one inning in relief before letting Lidge go two innings for the second straight day.

With Roy Oswalt on the mound, the Astros really liked this pitching matchup. Yet, the righty who led the league with 20 wins was far from his best. He hung around for six innings and didn't strike out a single hitter for the first time since July 2003.

Fortunately for the Astros, Jason Marquis wasn't much better. Bumped down in the rotation after getting hit hard by Los Angeles in Game 2 of the opening round, he was in constant trouble.