ST. LOUIS (AP) - Mike Matheny, Edgar Renteria and the St. Louis Cardinals can win with singles, doubles and triples, too.

After tying a postseason record with five home runs in the opener, the Cardinals stayed in the ballpark for Game 2 Thursday night. The result was exactly the same: another 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Following a sweep at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals will head to Dodger Stadium with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL playoff series. The third game will be Saturday night, with Matt Morris trying to wrap it up against Jose Lima.

Milton Bradley, Shawn Green and Jayson Werth homered for the Dodgers, who lost their eighth straight playoff game and remained winless in the postseason since beating Oakland in the 1988 World Series. Los Angeles dropped to 0-5 at St. Louis this year.

Less prominent players in St. Louis' high-powered lineup were largely responsible with the 6-7-8 slots in the order going a combined 8-for-10 with five RBIs and five runs scored.

Matheny, the No. 8 hitter, became the first Cardinals player to get four RBIs in a division series game with two-run singles in the fifth and seventh. Matheny is a career .239 hitter, but is 15-for-39 (.385) during an 11-game postseason hitting streak.

Renteria, the No. 6 hitter, was 3-for-4. His two-out, go-ahead single was the key blow in a three-run fifth that broke a tie and put St. Louis ahead 6-3.

Reggie Sanders was 3-for-3 and scored twice in the No. 7 slot.

Braves 4, Astros 2,

11 innings

ATLANTA (AP) - With plenty of incentive, Rafael Furcal made sure the Atlanta Braves' season lasts at least two more games.

Set to report to jail once the postseason ends, Furcal hit a two-out, two-run homer in the 11th inning that sent the Braves over the Houston Astros 4-2 Thursday and tied their NL playoff series at one game each.

With Houston on the verge of a commanding lead, the Braves rallied from a late two-run deficit to force extra innings.

With one out in the 11th, rookie Charles Thomas singled to right off Dan Miceli and stole second. Eli Marrero popped out to the catcher, but Furcal golfed a 1-2 pitch deep into the right-field seats, flipping his bat in the air about halfway down to celebrate his first postseason homer.

Furcal was in court just hours before Game 1, where he was sentenced to 21 days in jail and 28 days in a treatment center for violating probation with his second drunken-driving arrest in four years.

The sentence doesn't begin until the Braves' season ends. Furcal ensured that it will last at least one day longer.