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).