The Cardinals missed out on a chance to tie the Braves in the National League Wild Card race on Monday night. St. Louis lost 5-4 to Houston on a walk-off hit in the 10th inning. The Phillies had defeated the Braves 4-2. The Cards had won 15 of 20 to close the gap on the Braves, who have dropped 16 of 25 games in September following Monday's loss to Philadelphia. "If you've watched us over the last two weeks, everything's been perfect," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "We've had some really hard games that most of the time, we win. We've only had a couple get away." "I kept liking the way we went after it and created situations," he added. "You just tip your cap when they made pitches and got us out."