Balk lifts Cards to victory in 10 innings

HOUSTON -- Ray Lankford scored on Octavio Dotel's balk in the 10th inning and the St. Louis Cardinals thwarted the Houston Astros' late rally with a 2-1 win Friday night.

A pitching duel between Houston's Roger Clemens and St. Louis' Chris Carpenter was overshadowed by the game's wacky and thrilling ending.

Dotel (0-3) walked Lankford to start the 10th, and Scott Rolen singled to send Lankford to third. With Jim Edmonds at the plate, Dotel feined a throw toward the plate and third-base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt ruled it was a balk, allowing Lankford to score the winning run.

Houston manager Jimy Williams came out to protest to no avail as Dotel raised both arms in confusion.

Jason Isringhausen (3-1) gave up three hits -- including Lance Berkman's RBI double in the ninth inning -- in two innings and got the win.

Carpenter allowed only a pair of singles and held the NL's top offense scoreless for eight innings, and nearly earned his fifth straight win until the frantic finale.

Clemens went seven innings, allowing up six hits and a fourth-inning homer to Rolen with six strikeouts.

Rolen's shot looked like that might be the only run scored as both pitchers and defenses clamped down in the final innings.

Astros rally in the ninth

But with one out in the ninth, Isringhausen allowed a leadoff single to Jeff Kent, and Berkman doubled to right to tie it. Berkman went to third on the throw as Kent crossed home plate, but Mike Lamb struck out swinging, and Morgan Ensberg flied out to end the Astros' scoring threat.

Clemens remained stuck at 317 career wins, one behind Phil Niekro for 14th place in career victories after recording two no-decisions in his past two starts.

St. Louis had other opportunities to put the game out of reach -- the Cardinals left 10 men on base -- but Clemens and Brad Lidge kept the Astros in it until the end.

Clemens worked his way out of a jam in the sixth with no outs and Jim Edmonds on third base.

Edgar Renteria followed up with ground out, John Mabry lined a shot right into Kent's glove and Mike Matheny whiffed at Clemens' 91 mph changeup to end the inning.

Clemens finished with a season-high 123 pitches, 79 for strikes.