ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Jim Edmonds provided Julian Tavarez with a reason to smile and St. Louis Cardinals fans reason to rejoice.

Edmonds' two-run homer in the bottom of the 12th inning lifted the Cardinals past the Houston Astros , 6-4, and forced a decisive Game Seven in the National League Championship Series.

After Houston closer Brad Lidge continued his dominant postseason with three perfect innings, interim manager Phil Garner turned to Dan Miceli to start the 12th.

Miceli (0-3) walked the dangerous Albert Pujols on four pitches and retired Scott Rolen on a popout before Edmonds crushed an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right field, touching off a wild celebration at Busch Stadium.

"I was just trying to get a hit, actually," Edmonds said. "I figured if I could hit something hard in the gap or another base hit, (Pujols) would run hard to get to third and we would get a chance to score somehow. So that's it. I was just looking for a ball to get a good swing at. I wasn't trying to go deep. I was trying to hit the ball hard."

"I just got a few pitches up, I'm going through a tough stretch," Miceli said. "I'm just trying to go out there and do my job. Obviously I'm not doing it right now. I'll just try to go out there tomorrow and try to do my best again."

Fined a reported $10,000 by Major League Baseball for his actions after allowing a go-ahead homer to Carlos Beltran in Game Four, Tavarez fractured two bones in his left hand in what the team termed "a postgame incident."

"I don't want to talk about that, I want to put it behind, it's a bad past," Tavarez said. "I don't want to see the tape; I don't want to think about it. Right now I just want to enjoy the win tonight and looking forward to win Game Seven tomorrow."

With his availability for the rest of the series in doubt, Tavarez was pressed into action when St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen blew a save in the ninth.

"Once I walked out of the bullpen, I wasn't thinking about my hand," Tavarez said. "I put it out of my mind and just concentrated on pitching. I got some shots to keep my hand numb. I (had) a couple shots and some pills. Tony (La Russa) asked me this morning how I was doing and I told him I'd be fine for the game. I told him 'I want to be able to pitch, I want to be there and participate in the game.'"

After Isringhausen got through the 10th, Tavarez (2-1) retired all six batters he faced. As Edmonds rounded the bases, the emotional Tavarez jumped around and gave manager Tony La Russa an emphatic hug.

"It doesn't matter if it's August or September or April, he still gets fired up and I think that's the thing," St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty said. "His will or desire to win carries through our club. ... He's unbelievable, I think what you saw the other night he was showing his frustration. Tonight he showed his emotions of jubilation, I think that's what you see more often from Julian."

"He did a great job tonight," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "I thought his stuff was very good. His location was outstanding. He was throwing the ball where he wanted to throw it."

Isringhausen, who surrendered a a game-winning three-run homer to Jeff Kent in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Five, was asked to protect a 4-3 lead. He escaped a jam in the eighth but surrendered a two-out, game-tying single to Jeff Bagwell in the ninth.

"Your facing Izzy so its not the easiest chore in the world," Bagwell said. "If Izzy makes pitches he's going to get you out. He has that kind of stuff. I hope I don't see Izzy until next year to be honest."

"I'm not real happy with myself," Isringhausen said. "As a closer you have to go out and forget about that. ... I'm never happy when I give up runs. I had made my speech ready to apologize to everybody for messing up. It's two times in a row, its ridiculous for me to do that."

Lidge cruised through the heart of St. Louis' lineup in the bottom half, retiring Pujols on a groundout before striking out Rolen and Edmonds. He was perfect in the 10th and 11th and has logged 17 2/3 scoreless innings against St. Louis this season.

"I felt good out there tonight," Lidge said. "Like the rest of the bullpen we all went in and pitched a lot. In a game like this you're going to use everybody. You just have to do the best you can to rally and be ready for tomorrow."

Garner's decision to start Pete Munro over ace Roger Clemens on three days' rest also backfired a bit as Munro lasted just 2 1/3 innings, surrendering four runs and eight hits.

Houston's bullpen put together 8 2/3 scoreless innings before Miceli took over in the 12th.

"With us being in this game today, I'm disappointed that we didn't get over the hump today and win this game today," said Garner, who said he did not regret going with Munro. "A very winnable game for us, so I'm disappointed but haven't given much thought to tomorrow's game, only that I had scheduled the Rocket to go. We need a good performance out of him."

St. Louis starter Matt Morris gave La Russa five innings, allowing three runs and five hits. Ray King and Kiki Calero combined on two scoreless innings before Isringhausen came on.

The home team has won every game in this series. Game Seven is here Thursday night, with St. Louis looking for its first trip to the World Series since 1987 and Houston trying for the first in the 43-year history of the franchise.

The Cardinals are pinning their hopes on Jeff Suppan , who struggled mightily against the Astros in the regular season and lost Game Three in Houston. A much different pitcher on four days rest, Clemens has won five consecutive postseason decisions and is 1-0 with a 2.76 ERA in three career Game Seven starts.

"We have Roger going tomorrow," Houston left fielder Craig Biggio said. "Go home get a good night's sleep and forget about this one. We knew it was going to be a battle, they knew it was going to be a battle. They just got the big hit."

"It feels good because he's a guy that has been there in situations a lot of years," Beltran said. "He can deal with the pressure, it'll be fun."

Houston broke on top in the first on a sacrifice fly by Berkman that plated Beltran, who stole a base before scoring for the 19th time this postseason, breaking the record set by San Francisco's Barry Bonds in 2002.

Tony Womack opened the bottom of the first with a single and Pujols hit his sixth homer of the postseason.

After Houston tied the game in the third on a double by Jeff Bagwell that again scored Beltran, St. Louis took a 4-2 lead on a two-run single by Edgar Renteria .

Houston's Mike Lamb hit a solo homer in the fourth, and the game remained that way into the ninth.