Games for Friday, May 16

 

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

New York          15     11        577     ---
Houston             14     11       .560    0.5
Atlanta               12     10       .545   1
St. Louis            13     11       .542    1
Chicago             15     14       .517    1.5
Pittsburgh          12     14       .461    3
Montreal            11     15       .423    4
Philadelphia        8     13       .381    4.5

Saturday's games
Philadelphia (Twitchell) at Pittsburgh (Rooker)
New York (Matlack) at Chicago (Reuschel)
Montreal (Renko) at St. Louis (Gibson)
Atlanta (Niekro) at Houston (Roberts)

Chicago 5, New York 4: The Cubs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth, then survived a ninth-inning scare. The decisive inning started with one out, with consecutive singles by Jose Cardenal, Glenn Beckert and Billy Williams chasing Jerry Koosman. Tug McGraw entered; Ron Santo singled, Rick Monday walked and Jim Hickman singled. Williams, Monday and Hickman had the RBIs. Jim Aker allowed a double, a walk and a single in the ninth before Felix Millan made the final out on a liner that Don Kessinger speared at shortstop. Dave LaRoche was credited with the win, and Koosman took the loss.

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 0: Dock Ellis threw a five-hit shutout with eight strikeouts, including all three men he faced in the ninth inning. Ellis also doubled and scored in the third inning. Ken Brett went seven innings for the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits.

Houston 3, Atlanta 2: Lee May led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple off reliever Danny Frisella, then scored when Bob Watson's cleared the drawn-in outfield for a single for the walk-off win. Jim Crawford escaped the top of the inning unscathed when Jim Wynn threw out Sonny Jackson trying to score on Dave Johnson's base-loaded fly ball. Don Wilson went eight innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. Pat Dobson allowed two runs in five innings for Atlanta, and Gary Gentry followed with three scoreless frames. Johnny Oates was reactivated after the game with Larry Howard demoted.

St. Louis 3, Montreal 1: Lou Brock tripled with the bases loaded in the second inning to supply the only runs Reggie Cleveland got or needed. Jim Lyttle homered in the eighth for Montreal's only run; Cleveland allowed just four hits in his eight innings. Al Hrbrosky relieved after Cleveland walked the leadoff man in the ninth and got a strikeout and a double play to end the game. A Tim Foli error set up Brock's triple and made all three runs off loser Balor Moore unearned.