Games of Wednesday, Sept. 3

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               77     55       .583     ---
Atlanta                 70     61       .534      6.5
Montreal              69     63       .523      8
Chicago               64     64       .500    11
New York            64     64       .500    11
Pittsburgh            61     67       .477    14
St. Louis              60     71       .458   16.5
Philadelphia         55    74       .426    20.5

Thursday's games
Montreal (McAnally and Bane*) at Atlanta (Gentry and Harrison), 2
New York (Matlack) at Philadelphia (Lersch)
St. Louis (Foster) at Pittsburgh (Ellis)
Chicago (Reuschel) at Houston (Roberts)

Montreal 6, Philadelphia 2: Mike Torrez took a shutout into the seventh inning and relievers Joe Gilbert and Pat Jarvis combined for eight outs without allowing a hit. The Expos got five hits off Jim Lonborg, but four were for extra bases as they tagged him for three runs in 6.2 innings. Bob Bailey homered in the sixth. Montreal added three runs off the Phillies bullpen.

Montreal 8, Philadelphia 4: Larry Jaster came off the taxi squad to work seven innings and garner the win. He allowed four runs on 11 hits. Tom Walker worked the last two innings. The Expos knocked Larry Christenson out of the box in the second inning, scoring five runs. Bob Stinson and Ron Fairly each drove in two runs. Bob Bailey homered in the eighth. Mike Jorgensen went 2-for-2 with three walks and scored a pair of runs.

Atlanta 5, New York 2: Carl Morton allowed one earned run in his complete game win, and the Braves knocked Jerry Koosman out of the box in the first inning. Koosman committed a pair of errors while surrendering a solo homer to Dusty Baker and a three-run double to Mike Lum. John Milner homered for the Mets, one of nine hits allowed by Morton.

Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 4: Willie Stargell and Manny Sanguillen each clubbed two-run homers as the Buccos turned around what had been a prime outing by Reggie Cleveland. Cleveland held Pittsburgh hitless through four innings, but the Pirates turned a single in the fifth into a run and then blasted Cleveland for three runs in the sixth -- consecutive doubles by Gene Clines and Al Oliver followed by Stargell's moonshot. Sanguillen's homer came in the eighth off Rich Folkers. Nelson Briles allowed three runs in seven innings, two earned, for the win; Dave Giusti allowed one run in two innings for the save.

Houston 3, Chicago 1: Don Wilson threw a three-hit complete game; he walked four and hit two while striking out six. The Astros twice strung together three consecutive hits off losing pitcher Burt Hooton, who allowed three earned runs in six innings. Houston chopped its magic number to 17 with the win.