Games of Tuesday, July 29

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               58     40       .591     ---
New York             48    45       .517     8
St. Louis              48     47       .505     8.5
Atlanta                 47     47       .500     9
Montreal              46     49       .484   10.5
Chicago               44     49       .473   11.5
Pittsburgh            43     48       .473   11.5
Philadelphia         41     51       .446  14

Wednesday's games
Houston (Reuss and Richard) at Atlanta (Niekro and Dobson)
St. Louis (Wise) at Philadelphia (Lonborg)
Pittsburgh (Briles) at New York (Matlack)
Chicago (Reuschel) at Montreal (McAnally)

Montreal 3, Houston 0: Steve Rogers threw a five-hit shutout, and Bob Bailey hit a two-run triple past left fielder Jimmy Stewart, whose errant throw then allowed Bailey to score in the bottom of the eighth. Rogers walked two and struck out three. Ken Forsch threw seven scoreless innings before leaving for a pinch-hitter. Jim York took the loss.

St. Louis 5, New York 1: Tom Murphy pitched the Cardinals' third straight complete game, allowing one unearned run on four hits. He retired the final 13 hitters he faced/ The Mets lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Felix Milan broke a 12-inning hitless streak with a single in the third inning. Joe Torre hit a two-run homer in in first off Ray Sadeki, and he and Ted Sizemore each scored two runs.

Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 1: Willie Stargell hit a three-run homer in the sixth and doubled in a fourth run in the eighth to power the Pirates. Dock Ellis yielded a solo homer to Henry Aaron in the fourth inning but held the Braves to just three other hits in eight innings. Dave Giusti got through the ninth for the save despite a pair of singles. Ron Schueler went the distance for the loss.

Chicago 4, Philadelphia 3: The Cubs scored three runs in the top of the ninth to overtake the Phillies. Billy Williams and Ron Santo opened the frame with singles off Steve Carlton, the fifth and sixth hits the lefty allowed. Carlton struck out Rick Monday, then was relieved by George Culver, who promptly yielded singles to Jim Hickman and Randy Hundley to tie the game. After Paul Popovich popped out, pinch-hitter Pat Boroque doubled to put the Cubs ahead. Bob Locker got three infield outs for the save. Larry Gura threw a scoreless eighth for the win. Williams and Bob Boone homered.