Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri It was a matchup between Jake Peavy and eventual 2005 Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter.

Then in the bottom of the third, Peavy's control slipped away as a bases-loaded wild pitch and a two-run single by Reggie Sanders gave the Cards a 4–0 lead.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third when a walk to Abraham Nunez and an error by Khalil Greene on Yadier Molina's ground ball put two on with no out.

A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Nady by Julián Tavárez made it 6–2 in the eighth, but Randy Flores struck out Mark Sweeney to end the threat while Jason Isringhausen retired the Padres in order in the ninth to give the Cardinals a 2–0 series lead.

Then home runs by Dave Roberts's in the seventh off Brad Thompson and Ramón Hernández in the eighth off Julián Tavárez made it 7–4 Cardinals, but Jason Isringhausen came on to slam the door on the Padres in the ninth despite allowing a single and walk with Ryan Klesko's groundout ending the series.

Hudson struggled in his half of the first, giving up one run (on Morgan Ensberg's RBI single) on a walk and two hits, but got out of the inning with a crucial double play.

A walk and a bunt single put the tying run in scoring position later in the inning, but Brian Jordan grounded into a double play to end the rally.

John Foster in relief struck out Lance Berkman, but walked Ensberg to force in a run before a wild pitch scored another.

After Jason Lane was intentionally walked to reload the bases, Orlando Palmeiro capped the inning's scoring with a two-run single that made it 10–3 Astros.

Smoltz pitched masterfully and the Braves added to their lead in the seventh on RBI singles by Andruw Jones and Jeff Francoeur off Chad Qualls.

The Braves got a run in the eighth thanks to an RBI double by Andruw Jones off Dan Wheeler after Marcus Giles singled to lead off against Roy Oswalt, but no more.

In the top of the seventh, LaRoche attempted to score from first on Jeff Francoeur's double, but was thrown out at the plate in what proved to be a crucial play.

Brian McCann's home run in the eighth off Wandy Rodriguez made it 6–1 Braves, but in the bottom of the inning, Hudson walked Brad Ausmus and allowed an infield single to pinch-hitter Eric Bruntlett to end his night.

Kyle Farnsworth relived Hudson and got one out, but threw a wild pitch that advanced Ausmus and Bruntlett to second and third and walked pinch-hitter Luke Scott on a full count to load the bases.

In the ninth and down to their final out, Brad Ausmus hit a solo home run that barely cleared the left-center wall and Andruw Jones's glove off Farnsworth to tie the game and force extra innings.

In the bottom of the tenth, Scott hit what appeared to be a walk-off home run down the left-field line, but the ball hooked at the last second and barely missed the foul pole.

Houston nearly scored when Berkman doubled with two outs, but Braves reliever Chris Reitsma intentionally walked Morgan Ensberg retired pinch-hitter Jeff Bagwell to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 15th, the Astros put runners on first and second with one out, but Braves reliever Jim Brower got Ensberg to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Chris Burke hit the game-ending home run with one out in the bottom of the 18th off Atlanta rookie Joey Devine, giving Houston the series victory and sending them to the NLCS to face the St. Louis Cardinals.