Baseball: Houston get past Atlanta

Chris Burke ended the longest post-season game in Major League Baseball history with a home run in the 18th inning to lift Houston to a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves yesterday and into the National League championship series.

The Braves took a five-run lead into the eighth inning, and were poised to send this first-round series back to Atlanta for a decisive fifth match.

Instead, Lance Berkman hit a grand slam in the eighth and Brad Ausmus tied it with a two-out homer in the ninth.

Then, at 6-6, the Braves and Astros began the real endurance test that wound up lasting five hours 50 minutes.


The St Louis Cardinals were already through to the next stage of the National League playoffs, and will meet Houston in Game One of the league championship series on Thursday (NZ time).