Games of Wednesday, Aug. 20

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               70     48       .593     ---
Atlanta                 59     54       .522      8.5
New York            58     56       .509    10
Montreal              59     57       .508    10
Chicago               54     59       .479    13.5
St. Louis              54     60      .473    14
Philadelphia         51     60      .450    15.5
Pittsburgh            51     62       .451    16.5

Thursday's games
Atlanta (Morton and Gentry) at Pittsburgh (Kison and Rooker), 2
New York (McAndrew and Koosman) at St. Louis (Cleveland and Gibson), 2
Montreal (Stoneman) at Chicago (Hooton)
Philadelphia (Twitchell) at Houston (Roberts)

Atlanta 6, Chicago 4: Henry Aaron hit a two-run homer off Fergie Jenkins in the sixth and singled and scored in the Braves' two-run eighth. Danny Frisella vultured the win, allowing a run in two innings of relief. Tom House entered to retire Billy Williams with the bases loaded for the save. Jose Cardenal scored two runs for the Cubs and Glenn Beckert had a pair of RBIs. Ray Burris was saddled with the loss.

Chicago 3, Atlanta 2: The Cubs salvaged a split of the doubleheader as Bill Bonham held the Braves to four hits and two runs in eight innings. Ralph Garr homered twice for the Braves runs, one to open the game and the other in the eighth inning. Pat Dobson allowed three runs, two earned, in eight innings for the loss; he granted eight hits and five walks, the last one with the bases loaded.  

Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 0: Steve Carlton shut out the Cards on four hits, and the Phillies bunched their six hits off Rick Wise enough to plate three runs. Carlton struck out nine and walked one. Wise struck out 13 without a walk.

St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 3: Joe Torre lumbered home from third on a Bernie Carbo flyball in the eighth for the go-ahead run, and Al Hrborsky got two outs with the bases loaded to save the win for the Cardinals. Diego Segui vultured the win, and George Culver took the loss. Mick Kelleher drove in two runs for St. Louis with a double in the fifth. Cesar Tovar went 4-for-5 with a double, a steal and a run scored.

Montreal 8, Pittsburgh 2: The Expos got plenty of free base runners in this one: 10 walks, a hit batter and a pair of Pirates error. They also had 10 hits, all singles. Montreal scored three runs in the first and four more in the fourth to saddle Bob Moose with the loss. Mike Torrez allowed two runs on four hits and six walks in eight innings for the win.

Games of Tuesday, Aug. 19

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               70     48       .593     ---
Atlanta                 58     53       .523      8.5
New York            58     56       .509    10
Montreal              58     57       .504    10.5
Chicago               53     58       .477    11.5
St. Louis              53     59       .473    14
Philadelphia         50     59      .459    15.5
Pittsburgh            51     61       .455    16

Wednesday's games
Atlanta (Niekro and Dobson) at Chicago (Jenkins and Bonham), 2
Philadelphia (Carlton and Ruthven) at St. Louis (Wise and Murphy), 2
Montreal (Torrez) at Pittsburgh (Moose)

Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3: Ramon Hernandez, called upon with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth, walked pinch-hitters Hal Breeden and Pepe Mangual. The runs, both unearned, were charged to starter Nelson Briles and made him the losing pitcher; the loss dropped the Pirates into last place. Willie Stargell hit a two-run homer off Steve Renko in the first; Renko worked seven innings for the win. Mike Marshall threw two scoreless innings for the save.

New York 2, Houston 0: Jon Matlack shut out the Astos on five hits. He walked three and struck out eight. Cleon Jones singled home Felix Millan in the seventh for the first run, and Jerry Grote drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth for the second tally. Don Wilson (one run in seven innings) took the loss.

Games of Monday, Aug. 18

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               70     47       .598     ---
Atlanta                 58     53       .523      9
New York            57     56       .504    11
Montreal              57     57       .500    11.5
Chicago               53     58       .477    12
St. Louis              53     59       .473    14.5
Pittsburgh            51     60       .459    16
Philadelphia         50     59      .459    16

Tuesday's games
Montreal (Renko) at Pittsburgh (Briles)
New York (Matlack) at Houston (Wilson)

Atlanta 13, Chicago 4: Johnny Oates drove in six runs and Ron Reed threw three scoreless innings of relief for the win. The Braves mauled losing pitcher Larry Gura and Mike Paul for nine runs in the eighth and ninth innings, with Oates hitting a two-run homer off Gura in the eighth and a two-run double off Paul in the ninth. Dave Johnson scored four runs and Mike Lum three. Roric Harrison homered for Atlanta, and Ron Santo homered for the Cubs.

Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 0: Steve Rogers shut down the Pirates on five hits and Bob Bailey hit a solo homer for the Expos. Dock Ellis allowed all three Montreal runs in five innings; he allowed five hits and five walks.

Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 2: Bill Robinson went 4-for-5 to droie in two runs and score a pair, and Jim Lonborg allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings for the win. Robinson hit the Phillies' only homer and also had one of five doubles for the winners. Joe Torre hit a two-run homer in the first for the Cardinals' only tallies. Alan Foster took the loss, and George Culber worked two scoreless frames for the save.

Houston 4, New York 1: Jerry Reuss held the Mets to one run on five hits in seven innings and drove in a pair of runs himself with a single through a drawn-in infield. Reuss's big hit came in Houston's three-run fifth inning and was the fourth straight hit for the Astros in the inning against Tom Seaver. J.R. Richard overpowered the Mets over the final two innings (four strikeouts) for the save. The Astros became the first team in the league to 70 wins.

Games of Sunday, Aug. 17

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               69     47       .595     ---
Atlanta                 57     53       .518     9
New York            57     55       .508    10
Montreal              56     57       .496   11.5
Chicago               53     57       .482   13
St. Louis              53     58       .478   13.5
Pittsburgh            51     59       .463   15
Philadelphia         49     59      .454   16

Monday's games
Atlanta (Harrison) at Chicago (Pappas)
Montreal (Rogers) at Pittsburgh Ellis)
Philadelphia (Lonborg) at St. Louis (Foster)
New York (Seaver) at Houston (Reuss)

Houston 5, Montreal 0: Dave Roberts took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and finished with a three-hit shutout, while the Astros got homers from Lee May, Cesar Cedeno and Bob Watson. May's was a two-run homer in the first inning off Balor Moore, who allowed seven hits in seven-plus innings for the loss. Roberts walked none and struck out three.

Houston 7, Montreal 4: Doug Rader homered, doubled and singled with three RBIs and a pair of runs to power Houston to the doubleheader sweep. Cesar Cedeno hit his second homer of the day in the fifth inning to even the score at three, and the Astros plated three runs in the seventh off Tom Walker to take their first lead of the contest. Tom Griffin got the win in relief, and Jim Crawford got the final three outs with two on in the ninth to earn the save.

Chicago 5, Philadelphia 2: Rick resuchel struck out 10 Phillies in eight innings, and Jose Cardenal singled in a pair of runs in the Cubs' three-run third. Cardenal also doubled and scored in the ninth. Ken Brett took the loss. Jack Aker worked a scoreless ninth for the save.

Atlanta 4, St. Louis 1: Henry Aaron and Darrell Evans hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning off Bob Gibson, and Ron Schueler limited the Cardinals to one run and three hits in eight innings. Joe Torre homered in the seventh for St. Louis' only run. Danny Frisella walked the first two men he faced in the ninth but then retired the next three for the save. 

Games of Saturday, Aug. 16

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               67     47       .588     ---
Atlanta                 56     53       .514     8.5
New York            57     55       .508     9
Montreal              56     55       .505     9.5
St. Louis              53     57       .482   12
Chicago               52     57       .477   12.5
Pittsburgh            51     59       .463   14
Philadelphia         49     58      .457   14.5

Sunday's games
Montreal (Moore and McAnally) at Houston (Roberts and Forsch)
Philadelphia (Brett) at Chicago (Reuschel)
Atlanta (Schueler) at St. Louis (Gibson)

Chicago 5, Philadelphia 1: Burt Hooton threw a complete-game seven hitter, and was backed by homers from Rick Monday and Pat Bourque. Jose Cardenal doubled in a pair of runs as well. Hooton walked one and struck out nine. Greg Luzinski homered for the Philadelphia run. Wayne Twitchell took the loss.

New York 3, Pittsburgh 2: Ron Hodges singled in a pair of runs in the sixth inning and Bud Harrelson followed with a successful squeeze bunt. Jerry Koosman and HarryParker made those three runs stand up, barely. Koosman took a shutout into the eighth inning, but left with two runs in, a man on first and one out. Parker got out of the inning and added a scoreless ninth for the save. Bruce Kison took the loss.

Atlanta 8, St Louis 3: Mike Lum's solo homer in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie, and he followed with a grand slam in a six-run seventh that broke the game open. Ralph Garr led off the game with a homer for the visiting Braves. Carl Morton went the distance, allowing three runs on eight hits. Reggie Cleveland was the losing pitcher

Games of Friday, Aug. 15

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               67     47       .588     ---
Atlanta                 55     53       .509     9
Montreal              56     55       .505     9.5
New York            56     55       .505     9.5
St. Louis              53     56       .486   11.5
Chicago               51     57       .472   13
Pittsburgh            51     58       .467   13.5
Philadelphia         49     57      .462   14

Saturday's games
Philadelphia (Twitchell) at Chicago (Hooton)
New York (Koosman) at Pittsburgh (Kison)
Atlanta (Morton) at St. Louis (Cleveland)

Philadelphia 3, Chicago 2: Mike Schmidt hit a two-run homer in the second inning and Steve Carlton went eight innings for the win. Carlton allowed two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out nine. Ron Santo homered for the Cubs. Bill Wilson threw a perfect ninth for the save. Fergie Jenkins took the loss.

Pittsburgh 9, New York 8: Rennie Stennett led off with a homer and walked off the Mets with a bases-loaded two-run single in the ninth, which capped a four-run rally off Tug McGraw. New York starter George Stone was more noteworthy for his hitting than his pitching; he allowed four runs in six innings but had two singles and a double at the plate, scoring two runs and driving in three. Jim Rooker, who allowed one unearned run in two innings of relief, got the win.

St. Louis 3, Atlanta 2: Rick Wise allowed one earned run on eight hits in 8.2 innings to outduel Phil Niekro. Al Hrbrosky got the final out after the Braves plated an unearned run in the ninth and had the tying run on. Niekro went all eight innings for the Braves, allowing two earned runs on seven hits.

Houston 9, Montreal 3: Cesar Cedeno's three-run homer in the sixth busted one a tight game, and Jim Wynn added a two-run homer in the eighth.  Don Wilson allowed three runs on five hits in six innings for the win, and Jim York threw three scoreless innings for the save. Mike Torrez took the loss. Cedeno and Wynn scored three runs apiece.

Games of Thursday, Aug. 14

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     47       .584     ---
Atlanta                 55     52       .514     8
Montreal              56     54       .510     8.5
New York            56     54       .510     8.5
St. Louis              52     56       .482   11.5
Chicago               51     56       .477   12
Pittsburgh            50     58       .463   13.5
Philadelphia         48     57      .457   14

Friday's games
Philadelphia (Carlton) at Chicago (Jenkins)
New York (Stone) at Pittsburgh (L. Walker)
Atlanta (Niekro) at St. Louis (Wise)
Montreal (Torrez) at Houston (D Wilson)

Montreal 2, Houston 1: Steve Renko allowed one unearned run on three hits in eight innings, and Mike Marshall pitched out off a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth for the save. Tim Foli singled in the first run in the sixth inning and John Boccabella doubled in the second in the eighth, both runs off losing pitcher Jerry Reuss.

New York 3, Pittsburgh 0: The Mets scored three runs in the topof the ninth, the first on a leadoff double by Bud Harrelson that Richie Zisk turned into a little-league homer. Two outs later, Rusty Staub hit a two-run homer off losing pitcher Nelson Briles. Jon Matlack struck out nine men in eight innings; he allowed five hits and one walk. Ray Sadecki threw a perfect ninth for the save.

 

Game of Wednesday, Aug. 13

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     46       .589     ---
Atlanta                 55     52       .514     8.5
New York            55     54       .505     9.5
Montreal              55     54       .505     9.5
St. Louis              52     56       .482   12
Chicago               51     56       .477   12.5
Pittsburgh            50     57       .467   13.5
Philadelphia         48     57      .457   14.5

Thursday's games
New York (Matlack) at Pittsburgh (Briles)
Montreal (Renko) at Houston (Reuss)

Pittsburgh 4, New York 1: Rennie Stennett hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Tom Seaver and Dock Ellis threw a complete-game six-hitter. The sole run for the Mets came on a sac fly by Willie Mays after singles by John Milner and Felix Millan in the second. Al Oliver scored from first base on a double to center by Willie Stargell. Ellis walked one and struck out five.

Games of Monday, Aug. 11

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     46       .589     ---
Atlanta                 55     52       .514     8.5
New York            55     53       .509     9
Montreal              55     54       .505     9.5
St. Louis              52     56       .482   12
Chicago               51     56       .477   12.5
Pittsburgh            49     57       .453   14
Philadelphia         48     57      .457   14.5

Tuesday's games
None

Wednesday's game
New York (Seaver) at Pittsburgh (Ellis)

New York 2, Houston 1: Ted Martinez scored from first base on Jim Fregosi's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth for the winning run. Jerry Koosman allowed six hits in his complete game win. Dave Roberts also allowed six hits in 8.2 innings and took the loss. Felix Millan homered in the sixth inning for the Mets.

Philadelphia 14, Pittsburgh 4: The Phillies scored seven runs in the first inning off Bob Moose to start the rout. Greg Luzinski homered in the third and drove in five runs in all. Denny Doyle had three hits and a walk, scored three times and drove in a pair. Mike Schmidt also had two RBIs. Steve Carlton went the distance for the win despite allowing back-to-back homers to Manny Sanguillen and Willie Stargell in the seventh.

Pittsburgh 12, Philadelphia 9: Bob Robertson homered twice, one with the bases loaded, as the Pirates got a split of the doubleheader and stayed out of the cellar. Manny Sanguillen had four hits, including a triple and a double, scored three times and drove in three runs. Greg Luzinski hit two more homers in the  and drove in four runs for the Phillies. Bruce Kison gave up six runs in six innings and was credited with the win. Wayne Twitchell was the loser.

St. Louis 6, Montreal 1: Tom Murphy allowed one run on five hits in eight innings, while Bernie Carbo and Jose Cruz each drove in two runs. Cruz was gunned down at home plate twice by Expos center fielder Boots Day. Ernie McAnally allowed five runs, three earned, in eight innings for the loss.

Atlanta 12, Chicago 5: The Braves plated eight runs of Milt Pappas in the first three innings, and Carl Morton allowed one run in eight inning despite allowing 12 hits. Herny Aaron homered for Atlanta, Ralph Garr scored three runs, Dusty Baker drove in three runs and Paul Casanova had four hits. The Cubs scored four in the ninth off Jimmy Freeman.

Games of Sunday, Aug. 10

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     45       .595     ---
Atlanta                 54     52       .509     8.5
Montreal              55     53       .509     9.5
New York            54     53       .505   10
Chicago               51     55       .481   12.5
St. Louis              51     56       .477   13
Pittsburgh            48     56       .462   14.5
Philadelphia         47     56      .456   15

Monday's games
Pittsburgh (Moose and Kison) at Philadelphia (Carlton and Twitchell)
St. Louis (Murphy) at Montreal (McAnally)
Houston (Roberts) at New York (Koosman)
Chicago (Pappas) at Atlanta (Morton)

Montreal 3, St. Louis 2: Mike Torrez allowed eight hits, none after the fifth inning, in his complete-game win. Boots Day drove in two runs with a single and a sac fly off losing pitcher Reggie Cleveland, who allowed three runs in six innings. Bernie Carbo scored both Cardinals runs.

Montreal 11, St.Louis 3: Rich Folkers walked eight men while allowing five runs in his four innings, and the Expos got a two-run homer from Ron Fairly and a three-run shot from Bob Bailey against the Cardinals bullpen.  Bill Stoneman got through six innings for the win, allowing two runs on nine hits and two walks. 

Houston 9, New York 8 (14 innings): Lee May tripled and scored on Doug Rader's single in the 14th inning. The game was 8-8 after nine innings, at which point the bullpens -- most Harry Parker and J.R. Richard -- put the clamps on. Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones homered for the Mets; Cesar Cedeno homered for Houston. Richard was the winner, Parker the loser and Jim Ray picked up the save.

Houston 5, New York 3: Doug Rader drove in four runs with three singles and Don Wilson allowed three runs on seven hits in eight-plus innings. Cecil Upshaw entered with a man on and no outs in the ninth and promptly got a double play grounder followed by a comebacker to get the save. Cesar Cedeno scored two runs. Lee May homered for Houston, and Wayne Garrett and John Milner homered for the Mets. George Stone took the loss.

Games of Saturday, Aug. 9

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               64     45       .587     ---
New York            54     51       .514     8
Atlanta                 54     52       .510     8.5
Montreal              53     53       .500     9.5
St. Louis              51     54       .486   11
Chicago               51     55       .481   11.5
Pittsburgh            48     56       .462   13.5
Philadelphia         47     56       .456  14

Sunday's games
St. Louis (Cleveland and Folkers) at Montreal (Torrez and Stoneman) 
Houston (Wilson and Forsch) at New York (McAndrew and Stone)

Montreal 3, St. Louis 0: Steve Renko held the Cardinals to five hits in his complete game, but he also walked six while striking out eight. Jim Lyttle tripled home the first run in the sixth inning off loser Rick Wise and scored on a sac fly. Bob Bailey homered in the eighth off Wayne Granger.

Atlanta 2, Chicago 1 (10 innings): Darrell Evans led off the bottom of the 10th with a homer off Dave LaRoche. Tom House got credit for the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Starters Bill Bonham and Phil Niekro each worked eight innings; Niekro allowed one run on six hits and Bonham one run on three hits.

Atlanta 11, Chicago 5: The pitchers duel of the first game was followed by a slugfest and sloppy defense. The Braves got homers from Darrell Evans and Dusty Baker. Rico Carty came off the bench to double, homer and walk for the Cubs. Paul Casanova drove in three runs for Atlanta, and both Ralph Garr and Dave Johnson scored three times. Roric Harrison pitched into the eighth inning for the win. Larry Gura was the loser.

Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 2: Jim Lonborg yielded two runs on three hits in the second inning, then limited the Pirates to just three hits the rest of the way. Tom Hutton's double was the centerpiece of the Phillies' rally in the fifth, in which they scored three runs on three hits and two walks. Nelson Briles took the loss.

Philadelphia 17, Pittsburgh 9: Bill Robinson drove in six runs with a homer and four singles, Terry Harmon socred four times and Tom Hutton homered with three RBIs as the Phillies completed the sweep of the doubleheader. Dave Parker pinch-hit a homer for the Pirates, and Manny Sanguillen also went deep, while Al Oliver and Richie Zisk hit back-to-back triples. Barry Lersch allowed five earned runs in six innings and was credited with the win. Luke Walker was the losing pitcher.

New York 2, Houston 1 (10 innings): Two wild pitches by Jerry Reuss in the bottom of the 10th plated the winning run for the Mets. Bud Harrelson led off the inning with a double and moved to third on the first wild pitch, thrown while pinch-hitter Ted Martinez drew a walk. The second wild pitch came during the next at-bat (Wayne Garrett). Tug McGraw got the win with three scoreless innings in relief of Jon Matlack. Cesar Cedeno threw Willie Mays out at the plate in the seventh inning.