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.