St. Louis ? The St. Louis Cardinals have done almost everything this postseason. Everything except rally to win, that is.

Before Thursday night, the postseason had been a perfect extension to a dominant season in which the Cardinals led the majors with 100 victories and won their division by 11 games. In Game 2, they trailed for the first time in five playoff games in a 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros that evened the NL championship series at a game apiece.

“We had our chances,” leadoff hitter David Eckstein said. “We just didn’t hit.”

The Cardinals faithfully had followed a get-ahead formula in the playoffs, never trailing for 372â3 innings and leading for all but two of those innings, while sweeping the San Diego Padres in the division series and running up a five-run lead in a 5-3 victory in the NLCS opener Wednesday.

That run ended when catcher Yadier Molina’s passed ball on a sinker that was supposed to be away that came inside instead allowed Chris Burke to score with the game’s first run in the second inning.

Facing 20-game winner Roy Oswalt and closer Brad Lidge, the Cardinals had an impossible time playing catchup. St. Louis was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Oswalt, and went down in order in the eighth and ninth against Lidge, a pitcher they’ve always had trouble with.

“Now, it’s even,” Jim Edmonds said. “We’ve just got to go over there and try to win a series.”

They might have to do it without Reggie Sanders, who left because of a lower back sprain after tumbling at the warning track on Adam Everett’s RBI triple in the eighth. Manager Tony La Russa guessed that Sanders, who has 12 RBIs in the postseason, would be “50-50” for Game 3 Saturday in Houston.

“He hit his back, he hit his head, he’s got sore spots all over his body,” La Russa said. “He’s bruised quite a bit all over and we’ll see how he feels.”

Edmonds, the Cardinals’ center fielder, made perhaps the defensive play of the series with a diving catch near the warning track to rob Morgan Ensberg of extra bases in the sixth. But Edmonds, the Cardinals’ second-best run producer with 89 RBIs, also failed in both of his team’s best scoring opportunities.

With runners on first and second in the fifth, he took a called third strike on a full count for the third out. In the seventh, again with runners on first and second, he grounded out to first for the third out.

“He was outstanding,” Edmonds said. “When we got guys on base he made the pitches. He pitched a great game.”

The Cardinals again got strong starting pitching, this time squandering it. Mark Mulder, who allowed one earned run in seven innings, had been a question mark for this start after taking a line drive off his left biceps in Game 2 of the first round.

“I was fine,” Mulder said. “There was no soreness, no nothing.”

The 16-game winner wasn’t at his best, allowing eight hits, but made the pitches when he needed to. The Astros were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position against him, and had been 0-for-14 before Burke’s RBI single and Adam Everett’s RBI triple in the eighth off Julian Tavarez.

Mulder wanted two pitches back, Burke’s double in the second and Ausmus’ leadoff double in the fifth.

“They were sinkers that were up and they killed me,” Mulder said.