Game 5 Wins For Red Sox, Astros

Pennants are one game closer for the Red Sox, who beat the Yankees 5-4 in Game 5, and for the Astros, who clobbered the Cardinals 3-0, also in Game 5. Boston hasn't won the World Series since 1918; Houston's never been in it.

The Boston-New York game Monday at Fenway Park was the longest in American League Championship Series history: 14 innings spanning 5 hours and 49 minutes.

The ALCS now heads back to Yankee Stadium for Game Six Tuesday night with New York holding a three-games-to-two advantage in the best-of-seven series.

In Houston Monday, the Astros steamrollered the Cardinals 3-0 in nine innings, their third straight win over St. Louis. Houston now has a three to two game lead in the National League Championship series, which continues Wednesday in St. Louis.

Red Sox 5, Yankees 4

David Ortiz lifted the ball into center field on the 471st pitch of the night, and for the second time in 22 and a half hours, the Boston Red Sox poured out of their dugout to celebrate an improbable ending.

Ortiz's RBI single off Esteban Loaiza with two outs in the 14th inning Monday night put the Red Sox - who were one inning away from elimination on Sunday - one game away from climbing out of a 3-0 deficit and forcing an anything-can-happen Game 7 showdown with the Yankees.

In Game 5, Boston was six outs from elimination before Ortiz's leadoff homer off Tom Gordon and Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly off Mariano Rivera tied it 4-4 in the eighth.

The next six innings were agonizingly tense, filled with a double play, three passed balls in the same inning, two Red Sox runners thrown out trying to steal second and 10 runners left on base.

The Yankees had taken a 4-2 lead off Pedro Martinez in the sixth inning, but were shut out over the last eight by Mike Timlin, Keith Foulke, Bronson Arroyo, Mike Myers, Alan Embree and Wakefield as Boston's bullpen ran its scoreless streak to 14 1-3 innings.

In one pass through the Yankee lineup, Boston pitchers struck out Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada, Ruben Sierra and Tony Clark.

Johnny Damon started the winning rally by drawing a one-out walk, and Manny Ramirez walked with two outs. Ortiz, who won Game 4 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 12th inning, then fouled off eight two-strike pitches, including one that just missed being a home run down the right-field line, before dumping a soft single into center field.

Half the Red Sox ran to greet Damon coming home; the others mobbed Ortiz halfway to second base.

"I was thinking I'd better get it done right here," Ortiz said. "They've got too many hitters that can change the game with one swing."

Injured ace Curt Schilling is slated to start for the Red Sox in Game 6 against Jon Lieber, but there could be a holdup: Rain is forecast for New York on Tuesday night.

Both teams could surely use the rest after three games in Boston that saw 1,973 pitches, 82 hits and 29 pitching changes over 35 innings.

Astros 3, Cardinals 0

Brandon Backe was almost perfect, the most improbable postseason hero for the most unlikely playoff team.

Now Backe and the Houston Astros are a win away from an incredible upset.

Backe's one-hitter in a career-high eight innings and Jeff Kent's three-run homer in the ninth sent the Astros to their third straight win in the NL championship series Monday night, 3-0 over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Houston now holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, and needs only one more win for the franchise's first World Series appearance in 43 years of existence.

"I can't really describe what happened out there tonight," said Backe, 26, a Texas native who dreamed as a child of taking the mound for his favorite team. "When you feel as good as I did out there and felt in the rhythm that I was in, you just feel like nobody can hit you."

Only one person in St. Louis' powerful lineup did: No. 7 hitter Tony Womack.

Backe outdueled St. Louis' Woody Williams in the greatest game of his career, making a run at history by taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing the single. He left the game after the eighth, handing the ball to closer Brad Lidge with a scoreless tie.

Lidge got three quick outs, and Kent sent Jason Isringhausen's pitch deep to left in the bottom half of the inning for the win.

"Backe did a phenomenal job," Kent said. "He's able to keep himself focused. He's not caught up in the hype of the playoffs."

Fans started chanting "Back-e, Back-e" in the fifth and got much louder in the sixth, as Backe continued to dazzle them.

However, the most noise probably came from Sec. 122 of Minute Maid Park.

Wearing a red No. 41 T-shirt, clutching a rally towel in one hand and a beer in the other, Harold Backe was a bundle of nerves during his son's special night. He stood throughout much of the night, holding a homemade sign that read: "Backe Bee Hot Today."

"I'm so strung out, I can barely control myself," he said. "Brandon and I are connected - I can't explain it. This is exactly what I expected him to do."