Games of Thursday, Sept. 4

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               77     56       .579     ---
Atlanta                 71     62       .533      6
Montreal              69     64       .519      8
Chicago               65     64       .504    10
New York            65     64       .504    10
Pittsburgh            61     67       .477    13,5
St. Louis              60     71       .458   16
Philadelphia         55    75       .423    20.5

Friday's games
New York (Parker and Koosman) at Philadelphia (Champion* and Christenson or James*)
Montreal (Moore) at Atlanta (Dobson)
Chicago (Pappas) at Houston (Forsch)

Montreal 8, Atlanta 6: Hal Breeden hit a three-run pinch-hit homer for the Expos and Bernie Allen, filling in after Bob Bailey left with an injury, had a pair of RBI hits. Bailey homered in the first inning and Larry Lintz stole four bases and scored three runs. Pat Jarvis got the win in relief of Eddie Bane, who came off the taxi squad to make the start for Montreal, and Roric Harrison was the loser. Mike Marshall worked two innings for the save. Atlanta got homers from Herny Aaron, Dave Johnson and Marty Perez.

Atlanta 8, Montreal 7:  Joe Pepitone started a four-run fifth-inning rally with a solo homer, and Dusty Baker capped it with a three-run shot as the Braves overcame an early three-run deficit. Baker also tripled in a run, and Dave Johnson had a two-run homer. Mike Jorgensen homered for Montreal, and Ron Woods tripled, doubled, walked twice and scored a pair of runs. Gary Gentry got the win, Ernie McAnally took the loss, and Tom House pitched around a leadoff double in the ninth for the save.

New York 5, Philadelphia 3 (11 innings): Mac Scarce walked three men in the top of the 11th, the last two with the bases loaded, to hand the Mets the lead and the game. Greg Luzinski drove in all three runs for the Phillies with a two-run homer in the first and and a single in the eighth. John Milner had a two-run triple for the Met in the fourth. Buzz Capra got the win with a scoreless inning in the 10th, and Tug McGraw got through the bottom of the 11th for the save.

Chicago 9, Houston 1: Paul Popovich drove in five runs and scored a pair, with a triple, double, single and walk in five trips to the plate. Rick Reuschel went the distance for the Cubs, holding the Astros on one run on seven hits while striking out six with one walk. Dave Roberts took the loss.