Games of Tuesday, July 1

                               W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               44     26       .629     ---
New York            40     27       .597     2.5
Montreal              33     32       .508     8.5
Atlanta                 33     32       .508     8.5
Chicago               30     34       .469   11
Pittsburgh            29     35       .453   12
St. Louis              29     38       .433   13.5
Philadelphia         25    39        .390   16

Wednesday's games
Houston (Roberts) at Chicago (Jenkins)
Philadelphia (Lersch) at Atlanta (Niekro)
Montreal (Stoneman) at New York (Seaver)
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at St. Louis (Foster)

Houston 8, Chicago 4: Doug Rader hit two homers and he and Lee May each drove in three runs as the Astros dominated the Cubs. Don Wilson carried a shutout into the eighth inning, when Ron Santo homered to start a three-run rally.

Montreal 6, New York 1:  Ken Singleton hit a pair of homers and Ernie McAnally allowed one unearned run in 7.1 innings for the Expos. Bob Bailey doubled twice, scored a run and drove in one. Mike Marshall relieved with the bases loaded in the eighth and got an inning-ending double play, then worked a perfect ninth for the save. Jim McAndrew took the loss.

Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 0: Henry Aaron homered in both the first and second innings and Gary Gentry threw a seven-hit shutout. The Braves scored six runs in the first two innings off Larry Christenson, with Aaron driving in four of the runs. John Oates added a homer in the fifth off Mike Wallace.

St. Louis 2, Pittsburgh 1: Bob Gibson struck out 12 Pirates and at one point retired 17 straight batters in his three-hit complete game. Joe Torre and Ted Simmons had two-out RBI singles in the third to give the Cardinals the lead. The Pirates run scored in the first inning on a pair of singles and a wild pitch. Nelson Briles took the loss.

Games of Monday, June 30

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               43     26       .623     ---
New York            40     26       .606     1.5
Atlanta                 32     32       .500     8.5
Montreal              32     32       .500     8.5
Chicago               30     33       .476   10
Pittsburgh            29     34       .460   11
St. Louis              28     38       .424   13.5
Philadelphia         25    38        .397   15

Tuesday's games
Philadelphia (Christenson) at Atlanta (Gentry)
Montreal (McAnally) at New York (McAndrew)
Pittsburgh (Briles) at St. Louis (Gibson)
Houston (Wilson) at Chicago (Bonham)

Philadelphia 9, Atlanta 7: Mich Schmidt and Bob Boone hit back to back homers and Willie Montanez and Tom Hutton each scored three times as the Phillies outscored Atlanta. Steve Carlton allowed four runs in seven innings for the win. Bill Wilson entered with the bases loaded and none out in the bottom of the ninth and retired all three men he faced, allowing one inherited runner to score, for the save. Carl Morton took the loss.

Atlanta 8, Philadelphia 5: Dusty Baker and Johnny Oates each singled in a pair of runs in a six-run third inning as the Braves earned a split of the doubleheader. The Braves drew nine walks and scored two unearned runs. Pat Dobson (seven innings, four runs alowed) was the winner, and Tom House worked out of a ninth-inning jam for the save. Dick Ruthven took the loss. Philles second baseman Denny Doyle, injured in the first game, was deactivated after Game Two and Bill Grabarkewitz added to rhe roster. The Braves swapped out Adrian Devine for Jimmy Freeman.

Montreal 3, New York 2 (10 innings): Pinch-runner Larry Lintz stole second in the 10th inning, advanced to third on a bunt and scored on a short fly ball by John Boccabella to break the tie. Mike Marshall threw two scoreless innings for the win, and Buzz Capra took the loss. Jon Matlack allowed eight hits while striking out 10 in nine innings for the Mets, while Mike Torrez allowed seven hits in eight innings. 

St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 0: Reggie Cleveland threw a five-hit shutout and the Cardinals broke through against Luke Walker for two runs in the sixth inning. Luis Melendez added a solo homer in the eighth off Ramon Hernandez. Cleveland retired the first 11 men he faced with a good deal of help from his home park,which swallowed up three potential homers, two of the off the bat of Al Oliver.

Houston 5, Chicago 3: Lee May's two-out solo homer triggered a four-run first inning for the Astros, and Jerry Reuss scattered nine hits in his complete game. Jim Wynn hit a solo home run in the eighth off reliever Jack Aker. Rick Reuschel took the loss despite retiring the last 17 hitters he faced.

Games of Sunday, June 29

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               42     26       .617     ---
New York            40     25       .615     0.5
Atlanta                 31     31       .500     8
Montreal              31     32       .492     8.5
Chicago               30     32       .483     9
Pittsburgh            29     33       .468   10
St. Louis              27     38       .415   13.5
Philadelphia         24    37        .393   14.5

Monday's games
Philadelphia (Carlton and Ruthven) at Atlanta (Morton and Dobson),2
Montreal (Torrez) at New York (Matlack)
Pittsburgh (L Walker) at St. Louis (Cleveland)
Chicago (Ruschel) at Houston (Reuss)

Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2 (14 innings): Del Unser homered in the 14th inning to make a winner of Bcuky Brandon, who threw three hitless innings of relief. Hal Breeden pinch-hit a game-tying homer in the bottoms of the ninth off Mac Scarce. Jim Lonborg allowed one run in eight innings for the Phillies, and Steve Renko allowed two runs, one earned, in nine innings.

New York 6, Atlanta 5 (12 mnings): John Milner's homer in the bottom of the 12th gave the Mets their 12th straight win. Sloppy infielding by the Braves gave the Mets a 5-1 lead after five innings, but Henry Aaron hit his second homer of the game in the sixth as the Braves scored four times off Jerry Koosman. Neither team scored again until Milner's homer. Four of the five runs scored off Ron Schuler were unearned but Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones both homered. Ray Sadecki got the win in relief, and Tom House took the loss.

Atlanta 11, New York 4: Marty Perez drove in five runs and scored three times as the Braves ended the Mets' winning streak and split the doubleheader. Roric Harrison went the distance for the visiting Braves, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and six walks. Perez hit a three-run homer in the second off losing pitcher George Stone, singled in a run in the fourth and doubled home another in the ninth.

Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1: Jim Rooker struck out 15 in his complete-game three-hitter. Richie Zisk hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Rick Wise. Ken Reitz hit a solo homer in the second for St.Louis's run. 

Chicago 6, Houston 4: Jim Hickman and Randy Hundley homered as the Cubs held off the first-place Astros. Wade Blasingame came off the taxi squad to start for Houston and held a 3-2 lead after six innings, with the only hit allowed being Hickman's homer. But he walked the first two men in the seventh and after Hickman's single loaded the bases with no outs Jim Ray relieved. Hundley singled in to runs and pinch-hitter Pat Bourque hit a sac fly. Burt Hooton got credit for the win, and Ray Burris worked three innings (one hit, one walk, two strikeouts, one unearned run) for the save.

Games of Saturday, June 28

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               42     25       .627     ---
New York            39     24       .619     1
Atlanta                 30     30       .508     8.5
Montreal              31     31       .500     8.5
Chicago               29     32       .475     9.5
Pittsburgh            28     33       .459   10.5
St. Louis              27     37       .422   13.5
Philadelphia         23    37        .383   15.5

Sunday's games
Atlanta (Schueler and Harrison) at New York (Koosman and Stone),2
Philadelphia (Lonborg) at Montreal (Renko)
Pittsburgh (Rooker) at St. Louis (Wise)
Chicago (Hooton) at Pittsburgh (Blasengame*)

Montreal 6, Philadelphia 2: Clyde Mashore and John Boccabella each drove in two runs and Ron Fairly got an inside-the-part homer when Greg Luzinski and Mike Anderson collided in left-center. Balor Moore got the win with 5.2 innings of six-hit, two-run ball, and Mike Marshall was credited with a save for two innings of scoreless relief. Ken Brett took the loss.

Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2: Mike Ryan hit a two-run homer in the second inning and punched the game-winning single past the drawn-in Bob Bailey in the bottom of the ninth. Wayne Twitchell held the Expos to two runs on five hits for the complete game win; he walked seven and struck out 10. Bailey hit a two-run homer in the fifth for the Expos tallies. Steve Rogers took the loss.

St. Louis 3, Houston 2 (10 innings): Lou Brock homered in the bottom of the 10th off Jim Crawford to give the Cardinals the win in the first game of the second doubleheader between the two teams in as many days. Cesar Cedeno homered in the ninth off Mike Nagy to tie the game; Nagy allowed two runs on four hits in nine innings, with Cedeno scoring both runs. Brock also scored twice. Al Hrbrosky, who pitched a perfect top of the 10th, was the winner.

Houston 7, St. Louis 4: The Astros erupted for five runs in the eighth inning to overtake the Cardinals and split the doubleheader. Jimmy Stewart had a two-run single as the first seven Astros to hit in that inning reached -- four on singles, three on walks. With the Houston bullpen thin, Dave Roberts staggered to the complete game win; he allowed 12 hits and three earned runs. Wayne Granger took the loss. The Astros, having used seven starters in four days, will reach into the taxi squad for Sunday's starter.

New York 4, Atlanta 1: Tom Seaver scattered six hits and two walks in his complete game, and Rusty Staub and John Milner each hit two-run homers off Phil Niekro in the sixth inning as the Mets won their 11th straight. The Braves got their only run when Ralph Garr and Dusty Baker opened the top of the sixth with singles and Henry Aaron bounced into a double play, Staub's homer, which followed a walk by Wayne Garrett, was the first hit for the Mets. Cleon Jones then singled, and Milner followed with his homer. Niekro allowed four runs on four hits in seven innings.

Pittsburgh 7. Chicago 5: Richie Zisk doubled in a pair of runs in a four-run sixth inning as the Pirates overtook the Cubs. Al Oliver doubled twice, scoring a run and driving in one. Bruce Kison allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings and was credited with the win, Dave Giusti got the save. Milt Pappas was the loser.

Games of Friday, June 27

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               41     24       .630     ---
New York            38     24       .613     1.5
Atlanta                 30     29       .508     8
Montreal              30     30       .500     8.5
Chicago               29     31       .483     9
Pittsburgh            27     33       .450   11
St. Louis              26     36       .419   13.5
Philadelphia         22    36        .379   15.5

Saturday's games
Montreal (Moore and Rogers) at Philadelphia (Brett and Twitchell), 2
Houston (Dierker and Roberts) at St. Louis (Folkers and Nagy), 2
Chicago (Pappas) at Pittsburgh (Kison)
Atlanta (Niekro) at New York (Seaver)

Houston 6, St. Louis 4: The Astros scored two unearned runs in the seventh to break the tie when Lou Brock muffed a fly ball, and Don Wilson threw a complete game to win the first game of a doubleheader. Lee May homered, doubled and singled, driving in two runs and scoring three. Wilson allowed three earned runs on seven hits and four walks; he struck out six. Alan Foster took the loss.

St. Louis 11, Houston 3: The Cardinals batted around twice against a depleted Houston staff. Lou Brock had three hits and five stolen bases; he scored twice and drove in a pair of runs. Mick Kelleher and Joe Torre each scored three runs, and Luis Melendez had three RBIs. Tom Murphy went eight innings for the win. Ken Forsch took the loss. 

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 0: Dock Ellis took a one-hitter into the ninth inning and Milt May drove in a pair of runs for the Pirates. Ellis left with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth; Luke Walker retired Billy Williams and Ron Santo to strand all three runners and earn the save. Ellis allowed three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Gene Clines doubled, tripled and scored a run.  

Games of Thursday, June 26

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               40     23       .634     ---
New York            38     24       .613     1.5
Atlanta                 30     29       .508     8
Montreal              30     30       .500     8.5
Chicago               29     30       .492     9
Pittsburgh            26     33       .449   11.5
St. Louis              25     35       .417   13.5
Philadelphia         22    36        .379   15.5

Friday's games
Houston (Wilson and Forsch) at St. Louis (Foster and Murphy), 2
Chicago (Jenkins) at Pittsburgh (Ellis)

New York 4, Atlanta 0: The Mets won their 10th in a row. Jon Matlack threw a two-hit shutout, and the Mets pecked out their runs one at a time. New York had 11 hits and drew four walks but stranded 11 men. Felix Millan has three hits, including a double, and both scored and drove in a run. Matlack walked three and struck out seven in the Mets' fourth-straight complete game.

Montreal 10, Philadelphia 4: Ken Singleton hit a pair of three-run homers for the visiting Expos, and Bob Bailey and Ron Woods hit solo homers. Bill Robinson homered twice for the Phillies. Mike Torrez went the distance, scattering eight hits and allowing three earned runs. Steve Carlton took the loss.

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 3 (10 innings): Manny Sanguillen drew a bases-loaded walk to cap a two-run rally in the bottom of the 10th. Al Oliver had an RBI single earlier in the inning to even the score at 3; he had three RBIs for the contest, including a solo homer in the seventh.. Luke Walker, who gave up a run in the top of the 10th, got credit for the win; Bob Locker was the losing pitcher. 

Houston 6, St. Louis 4: Cesar Cedeno hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth after the Astros gave up a two-run lead in the top of the inning. Cecil Upshaw got credit for the win and Wayne Granger was charged with the loss. Jerry Ruess took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and wound up allowing three runs on seven hits in 8.2 innings. Doug Rader and Bob Gallagher each drove in a pair of runs for Houston. 

Games of Wednesday, June 25

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               39     23       .629     ---
New York            37     24       .607     1.5
Atlanta                 30     28       .517     7
Chicago               29     29       .500     9
Montreal              29     30       .492     8.5
Pittsburgh            25     32       .439   11.5
St. Louis              25     34       .424   12.5
Philadelphia         22    35       .386   15

Thursday's games
Atlanta (Morton) at New York (Matlack)
Montreal (Torrez) at Philadelphia (Carlton)
Chicago (Reuschel) at Pittsburgh (Briles)
St. Louis (Cleveland) at Houston (Reuss)

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 5: Mike Lum hit a grand slam in a five-run first inning off Larry Christenson, who was making his first start. Christenson followed with five scoreless frames, but the Phillies could not fully catch up. Pat Dobson allowed three runs in seven innings, scattering 10 hits, for the win. Ron Reed and Danny Frisella each allowed one run in one inning, with Frisella getting the save. 

Atlanta 15, Philadelphia 0: Gary Gentry threw a three-hit shutout, striking out five and walking two. Mike Lum hit a three-run homer, and both Sonny Jackson and Gentry drove in three runs as the Braves had a pair of six-run innings. Paul Casanova scored three runs. The game was scoreless through four innings.

Houston 8, St. Louis 3: The first four Astros batters scored, with Lee May hitting a two-run homer in the middle of the rally. Roger Metzg er tripled and doubled, scoring one run and driving in three. Tom Griffin allowed three runs in six innings, all in the final frame, and Jim Crawford pitched three scoreless innings for the save. Rick Wise took the loss. Jim Wynn was injured and is out until June 29.

Houston 3, St. Louis 0: J.R. Richard struck out nine Cardinals in six innings. He allowed three hits and walked five. Jim York allowed two hits in three innings for the save. Johnny Edwards drove in two of the three runs allowed by Bob Gibson in his six innings.

New York 3, Montreal 0: Jerry Koosman threw a four-hit shutout despite twice loading the bases in the first three innings. Each time he escaped the jam by striking out Ron Woods. Koosman walked five and hit one batter while striking out seven. Steve Renko started for Montreal but had to leave after two inning with a minor injury; he will make his next scheduled start. Pat Jarvis threw four scoreless innings and Joe Gilbert another before the Mets broke through in the eighth off Tom Walker. Wayne Garrett drove in two runs and Rusty Staub had the other RBI.

Chicago 10, Pittsburgh 6: The Cubs scored five runs in the third inning and four more in the fourth  to get back to the .500 mark. Burt Hooton got through seven innings for the win despite giving up a pair of two-run homers in the first inning to Willie Stargell and Richie Hebner. Rick Monday hit a three-run homer off loser Bob Moose and had four RBIs for the game. Billy Williams homered, singled and walked twice en route to three runs scored. Hooton and Larry Gura combined to get 12 outs out of the final 12 Pirate hitters (one double play involved).

Games of Tuesday, April 24

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               37     23       .617     ---
New York            36     24       .600     1
Atlanta                 28     28       .500     7
Montreal              29     29       .500     7
Chicago               28     29       .491     7.5
Pittsburgh            25     32       .439   10.5
St. Louis              25     32       .439   10.5
Philadelphia         22    33       .400   13

Wednesday's games
Atlanta (Dobson and Gentry) at Philadelphia (Christensen and Ruthven), 2
St. Louis (Wise and Gibson) at Houston (Griffin and Richard), 2
New York (Koosman) at Montreal (Renko)
Chicago (Hooton) at Pittsburgh (Moose) 

New York 7, Montreal 2: John Milner homered twice and George Stone scattered eight hits in his complete game as the Mets won their seventh straight. The game turned in the first inning when Tim Foli turned a likely double play into a two-base error, triggering a three-run inning. Milner scored and drove in three r uns for the Mets.

Philadelphia 7, Atlanta 5: Bill Robinson clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth inning off Danny Frisella to cap the Phillies comeback from an early 4-1 deficit. Del Unser hit a three-run homer in the seventh off Phil Niekro. Henry Aaron and Dave Johnson each hit two-run shots off Jim Lonborg. Bucky Brandon got the with two innings of relief work in which he allowed one run on three hits and a walk.

Houston 5, Pittsburgh 4: The Astros scored three runs in the first inning off Bob Johnson and added solo homers later in the game from Lee May and Jim Wynn to hold off the Pirates. Dave Roberts was in control for the first seven innings before yielding a three-run homer to Bob Robertson in the eighth. Jim Ray pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Games of Monday, June 23

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               36     23       .610     ---
New York            35     24       .593     1
Atlanta                 28     27       .509     6
Montreal              29     28       .509     6
Chicago               28     29       .491     7
Pittsburgh            25     31       .446     9.5
St. Louis              25     32       .439   10
Philadelphia         21    33       .388   13

Tuesday's games
Atlanta (Niekro) at Philadelphia (Lonborg)
New York (Stone) at Montreal (McAnally)
Pittsburgh (Johnson) at Houston (Roberts) 

Philadelphia 2, Atlanta 0: Wayne Twitchell struck out six in his five-hit shutout, and the Phillies got RBI singles in the eighth inning from Greg Luzinski and Bill Robinson  to win the pitcher's duel. Ron Reed took the loss in relief of Ron Schueler, who left for a pinch-hitter after six on-hit innings. 

Atlanta 10, Philadelphia 0: Roric Harrison fanned 13 in his five-hit shutout as the Braves secured a spit of the doubleheader. He retired 17 in a row at one point. The Braves scored nine runs in the fourth, with Dave Johnson, Dusty Baker and Darrell Evans each hitting a homer. Baker's came with the bases loaded. Mike Wallace took the loss. Barry Lersch threw four innings of relief and thus will be unable to start in the Wednesday doubleheader; the Phillies will be the first team to dip into the taxi squad for a starter.

New York 9, Montreal 1: The Mets drew 14 walks, seven from Expos starter and loser Balor Moore, and added 11 hits. Tom Seaver went the distance, allowing six hits, one a homer by Boots Day. Seaver struck out seven and walked three. Seaver also drove in a pair of runs, as did Duffy Dyer, John Milner and Rusty Staub. 

Pittsburgh 5, Houston 1: Al Oliver and Willie Stargell hit back-to-back homers in the Pirates' four-run fifth, and Bruce Kison allowed one run in eight innings. Oliver and Stargell each drove in two runs. Kison allowed two hits and two walks before getting an out, but escaped the first with just the one runs scoring and allowed just four baserunners in the next seven innings. In all, he walked five, struck out seven and gave up three hits, all singles. Don Wilson took the loss.

Games of Sunday, June 22

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               36     22       .621     ---
New York            34     24       .586     2
Montreal              29     27       .518     6
Atlanta                 27     26       .509     6.5
Chicago               28     29       .491     7.5
St. Louis              25     32       .439   10.5
Pittsburgh            24     31       .436   10.5
Philadelphia         20    32       .384   13

Monday's games
Atlanta (Harrison and Schueler) at Philadelphia (Twitchell and Wallace)
New York (Seaver) at Montreal (Moore)
Pittsburgh (Kison) at Houston (Wilson) 

Philadelphia 3, Montreal 0: Steve Carlton threw a five-hit shutout and was supported by home runs by Denny Doyle and Del Unser. Carlton walked two and struck out five. Mike Torrez allowed three runs on seven hits in eight innings.

Houston 9, Pittsburgh 6: The Astros scored six runs in the eighth inning, a rally that turned on the failed decision to go for the lead runner on a sac bunt. Skip Jutze beat Jim Rooker's throw, and the Astros got two walks, two singles and a double with two outs to blow the game open. Tommy Helms drove in four runs, two on a first inning single and two more with the double in the eighth. Jim Ray got the win in relief, Rooker took the loss, and Jim York relieved Cecil Upshaw with one run in and two men on to get the game-inning double play from Rennie Stennett.

The no-hitters

I started the solitaire Strat-O-Matic hobby in 2010, which is not to say that I've been playing it continuously for more than a decade. There was a hiatus between the Presidential League, which I almost abandoned in mid-season, and the 40-Years Tourney, aka Tournament One.

But once I started the 40-Years Tourney, the Strat projects have been pretty much a daily part of my life. There are few days in which I don't do something to advance my current project.

So I've played a few hundred -- a few thousand? -- games over the years. And there have now been six no-hitters in those games. I decided to catalog them here for easy reference:

1) Walter Johnson, Presidential League. In a bit of serendipity, this happened to be the very first game I played in the very first solitaire project. Johnson was assigned to the Obamas, a squad of mixed eras; he no-hit the Crawfords, a team assembled from the Negro League set. I've said before that the setup of the Presidential League was flawed; the NeL teams were simply not competitive against the HoF teams. This would be one extreme data point.

2) Paul Edmondson, Losers League. Spot starter for the 1969 Chicago White Sox, no-hit the 1969 San Diego Padres in their game of May 31. The real life Edmondson was a rookie who went 1-6 in 14 starts in 1969 and then died in a traffic accident shortly before spring training the next year. In this league -- eight teams that lost 90 or more games in 1969 playing the 1924 AL schedule -- he was a factor in the White Sox winning the pennant.

3) Tommy John, Tournament Three. His gem came for the 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Four of their series against the 2019 San Diego Padres.  The real life John never threw a no-hitter in his distinguished career.

4) Tom Bradley, Tournament Three. Pitching for the 1973 San Francisco Giants against the 2019 Los Angeles Angels in Game Seven of their series. The real life Bradley had a short career as a workhorse starter; to the extent that he's remembered today it is as part of the three-man rotation for the 1972 White Sox with Wilbur Wood and Stan Bahnsen. Those three combined for 130 starts in the strike-shortened season. Bradley made seven starts on two days rest that year, then was traded to the Giants for Ken Henderson and Steve Stone. He blew out his arm in 1974 and eventually became a college coach.

5) Roric Harrison, 73 Least League. Pitching for the 1973 Atlanta Braves against the 1973 Houston Astros in their game of May 15. 1973 was the best season of Harrison's brief career, most of which was spent with the Braves. Came up with the Orioles in 1972, was traded to the Braves with Dave Johnson in the following offseason, finished his career with the Twins in 1978. I have no memory of him with the Twins. According to Wikipedia, he was the last pitcher to homer in an American League game before the introduction of the designated hitter.

6) Nelson Briles, 73 Least League. Pitching for the 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates against the 1973 Houston Astros in their game of June 21. "Nellie" pitched for three pennant winners and two World Series champs in a 14-year career. One of those champs was the 1971 Pirates; he threw a two-hit shutout in his only start in that World Series.

My intent with this post is to update and repost the above details with each no-hitter going forward.

Games of Saturday, June 21

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               35     22       .614     ---
New York            34     24       .586     1.5
Montreal              29     26       .527     5
Atlanta                 27     26       .509     6
Chicago               28     29       .491     7
Pittsburgh            24     30       .444     9.5
St. Louis              25     32       .439   10
Philadelphia         19    32       .372   13

Sunday's games
Philadelphia (Carlton) at Montreal (Torrez)
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at Houston (Reuss)

Montreal 5, Philadelphia 4: Hal Breeden's eighth inning homer off Ken Brett broke a 4-all tie. Two-run homers by Bob Boone and Mike Schmidt had give the Phillies a 4-1 lead, but the Expos tied it in the sixth on an error followed by doubles from Bob Bailey, Ken Singleton and Pepe Mangual. Bill Stoneman got the win for a scoreless eighth, and Mike Marshall picked up the save.

Pittsburgh 2, Houston 0: Nelson Briles no-hit the first-place Astros and faced the minimum in the process. The only baserunner for Houston was Jim Wynn, who drew a walk in the first inning but was promptly erased on a double play. Willie Stargell hit a two-run homer in the first off Ken Forsch, who threw an eight-inning complete game, allowing six hits. Briles had two strikeouts in his gem, both of Forsch.

New York 4, Atlanta 2: Ray Sadecki threw seven scoreless innings for the win. Carl Morton worked five hitless innings but had to leave after injuring himself batting in the fifth, and Pat Dobson allowed a run in the sixth and wound up with the loss. The Mets scored three unearned runs in the top of the ninth as Dave Johnson and Ralph Garr were charged with errors and Garr turned a fly ball into a double. That gave Tug McGraw enough rope to allow a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame and still get the save. Mike Lum was also injured.

Chicago 8, St. Louis 5: The Cubs scored five runs in the sixth inning on four singles, a Pat Bourque triple, an error by Jose Cruz in center and a wild pitch by loser Reggie Cleveland. Fergie Jenkins allowed five runs in 8.2 innings for the win. Dave LaRoche entered with the tying run at the plate and struck out Bernie Carbo for the save.

Chicago 9, St. Louis 8 (11 innings): Rick Monday scored from first base on Jim Hickman's double to secure the doubleheader sweep. Bill Bonham had passed a 5-2 lead to the Chicago bullpen after six innings, but Bernie Carbo pinch-hit a three-run homer off Ray Burris to tie it, and the two teams traded runs and blown saves in the eighth and ninth innings. Larry Gura was credited with the win, and Rich Folkers took the loss.