Games of Wednesday, July 23

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               57     36       .613     ---
New York             47    41       .534     7.5
Atlanta                 45     45       .500   11
St. Louis              44     46       .488   11.5
Pittsburgh            41     45       .477   12.5
Montreal              42     47       .472   13
Chicago               41     48       .460   14
Philadelphia         40     49       .449  15

Thursday's game
Montreal (McAnally) at Pittsburgh (Ellis)

Chicago 13, Atlanta 10: The wind was blowing out at Wrigley. Henry Aaron hit three homers, and teammates Dave Johnson and Dusty Baker each hit two-run homers in the top of the ninth as the Braves took a 10-7 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, after Ron Reed struck out Rick Monday, Jim Hickman and Don Kessinger singled and Randy Hundley walked. Tom House, the final Atlanta reliever, entered. Glenn Beckert walked to force in a run. Pinch-hitter Adrian Garrett singled to tie the score at 10. And Jose Cardenal homered to end the contest. House took the loss; Jack Aker, who blew the lead in the top of the inning, got the win.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 2: Richie Hebner drove in two runs and Bob Robertson homered. Bob Moose allowed one run in four innings before leaving with a minor injury. John Morlan worked two scoreless innings and was credited with the win. Ramon Hernandez got the final three outs for the save. Steve Rogers took the loss.

St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 3 (12 innings): Luis Melendez doubled with one out in the bottom of the 12th and scored the winning run on Joe Torre's single. Orlando Pena got the win with two innings of hitless relief. Bob Boone had two RBIs for the Phillies, and Jose Cruz drove in a pair for the Cardinals.The Phillies returned to the cellar with the loss and the Cubs win.  

Houston 8, New York 2: The Astros swept the second-place Mets in the four-game series in the Astrodome and widened their lead to 7.5 games. New York led this game 2-0 after five innings, but Tommy Helms tied it in the sixth with a bases-loaded single and Skip Jutze followed with an RBI single of his own. Helms drove in two more runs in the seventh, and Cesar Cedeno hit a two-run homer in the eighth as the Astros pulled away. Ken Forsch got the win, allowing one earned run on five hits in seven innings. Jerry Koosman took the loss,