Games of Thursday, May 1

The standings

Chicago            9       5        .643    ---
Philadelphia     7       5        .583    1
California         7       7        .500    2
Kansas City      6       6        .500    2
San Diego        7       7        .500    2
Seattle              7       7        .500    2
Montreal          6       8         .429    3
Cleveland         4       8        .333    3.5

Friday's games
Kansas City (Bunker) at Philadelphia (Wise)
Chicago (Horlen) at Cleveland (Tiant)
Montreal (Renko) at California (McGlothlin)
Seattle (Pattin) at San Diego (Niekro)

Philadelphia 11, Kansas City 8: The Phillies scored five runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to overtake the Royals. Don Money hit a three-run homer in the seventh off loser Mike Hedlund. Dick Allen also had three RBIs for Philadelphia, and Cookie Rojas hit a two-run homer to chase Kansas City starter Bill Butler in the sixth. Lou Piniella was 5-for-5, all singles, for the Royals; he had three RBIs. Bill Champion picked up the win in relief of Grant Jackson, and Turk Farrell got the save with a scoreless ninth. Kansas City reactivated Paul Schall before the game and demoted Juan Rios. Kansas City catcher Ellie Rodriguez was injured (three days); he will remain on the active roster.

Chicago 3, Cleveland 2: Tommy John outdueled Sam McDowell in a battle of southpaw aces. John allowed one run on eight hits in eight innings. He struck out seven and walked one. McDowell went the distance for the visiting Indians, striking out eight while walking seven and hitting one. Bill Melton had a pair of doubles for the Sox; the second drove home the go-ahead run in the ninth inning. Ken Berry threw out Larry Brown at the plate in the eighth inning. Carlos May (White Sox) was injured (five days) and will be replaced on the roster by Bob Christensen; May is eligible to return on May 11.

California 9, Montreal 8: Bill Voss' leadoff triple in the bottom of the ninth inning started a two-run rally that pulled the Angels past the Expos. California scored five runs off four Montreal relievers in the final four innings. Voss was 5-for-5 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs, and Sandy Alomar, 3-for-5 with a walk and a steal, had three RBIs and scored once. Ron Fairly hit a pair of homers off Andy Messersmith for the Expos, who also got homers from Ty Cline and Kevin Collins. Pedro Borbon got the win with two innings of hitless relief. Before the game, the Expos activated John Bateman and demoted John Boccabella; after the game, they activated Gary Sutherland and demoted Reny Hermoso.

San Diego 2, Seattle 1: Clay Kirby allowed three hits in eight-plus innings, and Frank Reberger struck out two Pilots hitters with the tying and go-ahead runs on base to preserve the win for the Padres. Ollie Brown and Nate Colbert hit solo homers for the Padres off loser Mike Marshall, who went the distance for Seattle. Marshall walked three and struck out seven; Kirby walked four and struck out five. John Donaldson of the Pilots was injured (two games) and will remain on the roster; after the game, the Pilots reactivated Ray Oyler and demoted Merritt Ranew.

Player of the day: Bill Voss, California.