Games of Thursday, Aug. 7

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               64     43       .598     ---
Atlanta                 52     51       .505   10
New York            52     51       .505   10
St. Louis              51     52       .495   11
Montreal              51     53       .490   11.5
Chicago               50     53       .485   12
Pittsburgh            48     53       .475   13
Philadelphia         44     56       .440  16.5

Friday's games
St. Louis (Foster) at Montreal (Rogers) 
Houston (Griffin) at New York (Seaver)
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at Philadelphia (Brett)
Chicago (Reuschel) at Atlanta (Schueler)

Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 3: Hal Breeden homered in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the Pirates. He also tripled in the Expos' three-run seventh. Jim Rooker had carried a non-hitter into the seventh, but with one out Ken Singleton singled, Breeden tripled and Pepe Mangual homered to tie the game at 3. Mike Marshall got the win. Bob Johnson was charged with the loss.

New York 5, Chicago 0: Ray Sadeki threw a four-hit shutout while the Mets scored three runs in the first innng and another in the second off Burt Hooton. Ron Santo had three hits for the Cubs. Sadecki struck out seven in the first three innings but just one the rest of the way.

Houston 2, Philadelphia 1: The Astros had to go to their bullpen in the second when Dave Roberts came up lame, but J.R. Richard, Cecil Upshaw, Jim Ray and Jim Crawford combined to allow one run on six hits in eight innings. Ray, who worked the seventh and eighth, got credit for the win despite allowing three hits and a walk. Crawford got the save. Richard pitched three innings, allowing a solo homer to Tom Hutton. He walked four men and struck out six. Bob Watson doubled home Lee May in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. Dick Ruthven, who allowed one earned run in eight innings, was the losing pitcher. 

St. Louis 5, Atlanta 4: Ken Reitz drove in three runs with a sac fly and two-run homer and Bob Gibson held the Braves to two runs in eight innings. The Braves scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth without benefit of a base hit. Diego Segui retired the final two hitters for the save. Gary Gentry took the loss. The Atlanta loss, coupled with the Houston win, gave the Astros a 10-game lead in the standings.