Games of Sunday, Aug. 24

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               73     50       .593     ---
Atlanta                 61     58       .513    10
New York            60     59       .504    11
Montreal              61     60       .504    11
Chicago               57     60       .487    11.5
St. Louis              57     63      .479    13
Pittsburgh            54     63       .462    16
Philadelphia         52     62      .460    16.5

Monday's games
New York (Koosman and Sadecki) at Chicago (Hooton and Bonham), 2
Philadelphia (Carlton) at Pittsburgh (Briles)
Atlanta (Morton) at Houston (Roberts)
Montreal (Rogers) at St. Louis (Cleveland)

Chicago 10, New York 1: Rick Monday hit a three-run homer in the Cubs' five-run first and drove in five runs in all. Ron Santo also homered and totaled four RBIs. Jose Cardenal scored three times. Fergie Jenkins went eight innings, allowing one run on seven hits, for the win. Jon Matlack took the loss.

Montreal 4, St. Louis 1: Ron Fairly popped a two-run homer and Mike Torrez scattered six hits in eight innings for the win, Losing pitcher Rick Wise also allowed six hits in eight innings, but the Expos scored a pair of runs on outs in the fourth before Fairly's blase in the seventh. Joe Gilbert worked the ninth for the save.

St. Louis 7, Montreal 4: Tommy Agee drove in three runs, two of them with a grounder through a drawn-in infield in the Cardinals' four-run eighth inning. Lou Brock hit a two-run homer in the third innings, while Montreal catcher Bob Stinson had three RBIs, Orlando Pena, who had allowed a run in the top of the eighth that put the Expos ahead, was credited with the win; he allowed the one run in two innings. Ernie McAnally took the loss.

Houston 6, Atlanta 5: Two triples carried more weight in this one than three homers. Frank Tepedino, Henry Aaron and Johnny Oates each homered for Braves in the first three innings -- Tepedino and Aaron back to back -- as Atlanta built a 5-0 lead. But Skip Jutze singled in two runs in the fourth and Roger Metzger tripled home two more in the sixth, then scored on Jimmy Stewart's pinch-hit single to even the score. Jim Wynn led off the seventh with another triple and promptly scored on Lee May's single. Houston got five scoreless innings from three relievers. J.R. Richard got the win and Jim York the save. Phil Niekro was the losing pitcher.

Atlanta 3, Houston 1: Dave Johnson hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning and Ron Reed took a shutout into the ninth. Tom House got the final two outs for the save. Reed allowed four hits and walked one while striking out five. Don Wilson was the losing pitcher. The doubleheader split left the Astros with a magic number of 24.