Games of Tuesday, Sept. 23

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               83     65       .560     ---
Atlanta                 81     68       .551      2.5
Chicago               77     69       .527      4
New York            74     73       .503      8.5
Montreal              74     75       .497      9.5
Pittsburgh            72     74       .493    10
St. Louis              69     79       .466    14
Philadelphia         59     85       .409    23

Wednesday's games
Houston (Forsch and D Wilson) at Atlanta (Harrison and Morton), 2
Chicago (Reuschel) at Montreal (Moore)
Pittsburgh (Rooker) at New York (Koosman)
St. Louis (Cleveland) at Philadelphia (Carlton)

Chicago 9, Montreal 5:  Randy Hundley capped a five-run top of the eighth with a three-run homer off losing pitcher Tom Walker. Bernie Allen hit a three-run homer for the Expos in the third after Bob Bailey left with a season-ending injury. Ray Burris got the win with a scoreless inning of relief.

New York 2, Pittsburgh 1 (12 innings): Felix Millian drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 12th, the third free pass issued by Bob Johnson in the inning, to end the pitchers duel. Tom Seaver struck out 12 in 10 innings. Bob Moose induced five double-play grounders in 8.2 innings. Tug McGraw worked two scoreless frames for the win.

Philadelphia 5, St. Louis 4: Pinch-hitter Jose Pagan led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit. One out later, the Phillies put the hit-and-on on with Denny Doyle at the plate, and Doyle found a gap, with Pagan scoring from first base with the winning run.  Ken Brett, who struck out 11 in his complete game, got the win. Al Hrbrosky took the loss. The Cardinals got back-to-back homers in the first inning from Joe Torre and Ted Simmons.

Atlanta 4, Houston 2: Phil Niekro held the Astros to two runs on six hits in his complete game win, while Dusty Baker and Mike Lum hit solo homers in the first two innings off Jerry Reuss as the second-place Braves won the opener of a three-game series against the league-leading Astros. Baker went 4-for-4 with two singles and a double. He scored twice and drove in two. Niekro struck out 10 Astros.

Game of Monday, Sept. 22

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               83     64       .564     ---
Atlanta                 80     68       .540      3.5
Chicago               76     69       .524      5
Montreal              74     74       .500      9.5
New York            73     73       .500      9.5
Pittsburgh            72     73       .497    10
St. Louis              69     78       .469    14
Philadelphia         58    85       .406    24

Tuesday's games
Chicago (Hooton) at Montreal (Stoneman)
Pittsburgh (Moose) at New York (Seaver)
St. Louis (Wise) at Philadelphia (Brett)
Houston (Reuss) at Atlanta (Niekro)

Chicago 4, Montreal 1: Ron Santo hit a two-run homer off Mike Torrez in the first inning, and that was enough for Fergie Jenkins. The Canadian righty held the Canadian team to eight hits and one run in eight innings before giving way to Jack Aker, who worked a perfect ninth for the save. Jose Cardenal had two hits and a walk, scoring once and driving in another run before leaving with a season-ending injury.

Games of Sunday, Sept. 21

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               83     64       .564     ---
Atlanta                 80     68       .540      3.5
Chicago               75     69       .520      5.5
Montreal              74     73       .503      9
New York            73     73       .500      9.5
Pittsburgh            72     73       .497    10
St. Louis              69     78       .469    14
Philadelphia         58    85       .406    24

Monday's game
Chicago (Jenkins) at Montreal (Torrez)

Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 2: Nelson Briles allowed one earned run in eight six-hit innings. The Pirates got all three of their runs from the bottom of the order. Steve Renko took the loss, and Dave Giusti picked up the save. Jim Lyttle pinch hit a homer for the Expos.

Chicago 2, New York 1: Milt Pappas worked into the eighth inning for the win, with Dave LaRoche and Bob Locker getting two out apiece to finish the job. Loser Jim McAndrew allowed two runs in five innings.

 

Games of Saturday, Sept. 20

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               83     64       .564     ---
Atlanta                 80     68       .540      3.5
Chicago               74     69       .517      6
Montreal              74     72       .506      8.5
New York            73     72       .503      9
Pittsburgh            71     73       .493    10.5
St. Louis              69     78       .469    14
Philadelphia         58    85       .406    24

Sunday's games
Pittsburgh (Briles) at Montreal (Renko)
Chicago (Pappas) at New York (McAndrew)

St. Louis 21, Atlanta 6: Joe Torre hit for the cycle and the Cardinals batted around in both the eighth and ninth innings of the rout. Torre doubled in the first inning, tripled in the third, singled in the sixth and homered in the eighth before adding another single in the ninth. He scored twice and drove in four runs. Ken Reitz hit a grand slam off the overworked Jimmy Freeman, who wore it late in this one. Tom Murphy went six innings, allowing four runs, for the win. Pat Dobson took the loss.

Atlanta 6, St. Louis 1: Darrell Evans hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Mike Nagy (who was filling in for the injured Bob Gibson) and Carl Morton allowed one run in seven innings as the Braves recovered for a split of the doubleheader. The Cardinals had the tying runs on base in the seventh and the go-ahead runs on in the eighth, but could get no closer, and Al Hrbrosky imploded in the eighth for three runs. Danny Frisella worked two scoreless inhings for the save.

Montreal 6, Pittsburgh 3: Bob Bailey drove in two runs with a triple and a double, and Tim Foli had a two-run double. Ernie McAnally shut out the Pirates until Bob Robertson hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Mike Marshall got the final five outs for the save. Dock Ellis took the loss.

New York 8, Chicago 1: John Milner homered twice off loser Rich Reuschel and Rusty Staub added a two-run homer in the eighth off Jack Aker. Jon Matlack went the distance for the Mets, allowing three hits and five walks with nine strikeouts. 

Houston 9, Philadelphia 1: Lee May and Doug Rader each hit two-run homers in the first inning off Steve Carlton, and Jim Wynn added a solo shot in the second. Dave Roberts went the distance for the Astros, scattering seven hits. Montreal, New York and Pittsburgh were all eliminated. The Astros trimmed their magic number to four.

Games of Friday, Sept. 19

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               82     64       .561     ---
Atlanta                 79     67       .541      3
Chicago               74     68       .521      5
Montreal              73     72       .503      8.5
New York            72     72       .500      9
Pittsburgh            71     72       .497      9.5
St. Louis              68     77       .469    13.5
Philadelphia         58    85       .406    23

Saturday's games
St. Louis (Murphy and Nagy) at Atlanta (Dobson and Morton), 2
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at Montreal (McAnally)
Chicago (Reuschel) at New York (Matlack)
Houston (Roberts) at Philadelphia (Carlton)

Pittsburgh 7, Montreal 4: The Pirates won their fifth in a row, getting home runs from Willie Stargell, Richie Hebner and Bob Robertson. Richie Zisk doubled twice and scored both times. Bruce Kison pitched into the sixth inning for the win, with Ramon Hernandez, Steve Blass and Dave Giusti splitting the rest of the work and Giusti earning the save. Steve Rogers was the losing pitcher. 

Chicago 2, New York 0: Burt Hooton spun a four-hit shutout to out-duel Jerry Koosman. Don Kessinger tripled to plate Rick Monday in the second inning, and Glenn Beckert drove in Ken Rudolph in the fifth for the other run. Hooton struck out seven and walked two. 

Houston 4, Philadelphia 2: Bob Watson hit a two-run homer and Jim Wynn blasted a pair of triples to back Don Wilson, who held the Phillies to two singles through the first seven innings. Del Unser hit a two-run homer in the eighth to chase Wilson, but Jim Crawford finished the eighth and Jim Ray worked a scoreless ninth for the save. Dick Ruthven was the loser.

St. Louis 8, Atlanta 6: The Cardinals scored five runs in the fifth to overtake the Braves, then hung on as the Braves scored three in the bottom of the ninth. Ted Sizemore drove in three runs with a double, a single and a sac fly. Reggie Cleveland gave up three runs, only one earned, in the first, then held the Braves scoreless until the ninth. Al Hrbrosky finished but did not get a save. Ron Reed was the loser for Atlanta, which got two RBIs apiece from Henry Aaron and Darrell Evans.

Games of Thursday, Sept. 18

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               81     64       .558     ---
Atlanta                 79     66       .545      2
Chicago               73     68       .518      5
Montreal              73     71       .507      7.5
New York            72     71       .503      8
Pittsburgh            70     72       .492      9.5
St. Louis              67     77       .465    13.5
Philadelphia         58    84       .408    22

Friday's games
Pittsburgh (Kison) at Montreal (Rogers)
Chicago (Hooton) at New York (Koosman)
Houston (D Wilson) at Philadelphia (Ruthven)
St. Louis (Cleveland) at Atlanta (Reed)

Montreal 5, St. Louis 4: Bob Bailey hit a two-out solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to walk off Mike Nagy and make a winner of Mike Marshall. The Expos led 4-0 after two innings, but St. Louis starter Alan Foster followed with four scoreless innings while the Cards rallied to even the score against Mike Torrez. 

St. Louis 10, Montreal 2: The Cardinals bounced back behind Rick Wise, who held the Expos to two runs in eight innings, and Lou Brock and Ted Sizemore, who each scored three runs and drove in a pair. Wise and Brock each tripled, and Ken Reitz and Joe Torre had two RBIs apiece. 

New York 2, Houston 1 (10 innings): Tom Seaver worked all 10 innings for the Mets, allowing one run on four hits. Wayne Garrett scored the winning run on a wild pitch by JR Richard, who entered after Ken Boswell, pinch hitting for Seaver, tripled to open the bottom of the 10th. With the infield and outfield both in, Richard got Garrett to hit a grounder to first, and Lee May threw out Boswell trying to score. But then Richard walked both Felix Millan and Rusty Staub to load the bases, then uncorked his wild pitch. Jim York was saddled with the loss.

Houston 9, New York 7: Cesar Cedeno homered twice and tripled, scored three times and drove in four. J.R. Richard threw three innings of relief, allowing only an unearned run, and was credited with the win in via scorer's descretion rather than Cecil Upshaw, who was ineffective in his one-third of an inning. Ray Sadecki took the loss for the Mets.

Pittsburgh 7, Philadelphia 5: Richie Hebner hit a pair of solo homers and Al Oliver and Willie Stargell hit back-to-back homers to power the Pirates. Bob Boone hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Steve Blass to make the score close.  Bob Moose, who allowed two runs in 7.1 innings, was the winner, and Wayne Twitchell took the loss.

Pittsburgh 8, Philadelphia 2: Luke Walker went eight innings for the Buccos and Al Oliver homered twice. Gene Alley hit a three-run homer in the seventh to ice the win. Jim Lonborg took the loss. Greg Luzinski hit a two-run home run in the sixth for the Phillies runs.

Atlanta 9, Chicago 8: Darrell Evans hit a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off Jack Aker to win it. It was Evans's second of the game and the fifth for Atlanta. Dave Johnson also homered twice and Phil Niekro, who gave up six runs in six innings, hit the other. Gary Gentry got the win in relief. Billy Williams and Ron Santo homered for the Cubs.

Chicago 7, Atlanta 5: Pat Bourque drove in the first run of the game with a double, but his biggest swing came the next inning when he clubbed a grand slam off Atlanta starter and loser Ron Schueler. The Braves made the game close with a four-run outburst in the seventh against starter and winner Bill Bonham and Jack Aker, but they could not dent home plate in the eighth against Dave LaRoche or in the ninth against Ray Burris, who got the save.

Games of Tuesday, Sept. 16

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               80     63       .559     ---
Atlanta                 78     65       .545      2
Chicago               72     67       .518      5
Montreal              72     70       .507      7.5
New York            71     70       .500      8
Pittsburgh            68     72       .489    10.5
St. Louis              66     76       .468    13.5
Philadelphia         58    82       .417    21

Wednesday's games
None

Thursday's games
St. Louis (Wise and Foster) at Montreal (Torrez and Moore),2
Houston (Reuss and Griffin) at New York (Seaver and Stone), 2
Pittsburgh (Moose and  L Walker) at Philadelphia (Twitchell and Lonborg),2
Chicago (Jenkins and Bonham) at Atlanta (Niekro and Schueler), 2

Houston 11, New York 2: Doug Rader homered, doubled twice and drove in four runs to support Dave Roberts' complete game. Bob Watson and Lee May each had two RBIs. Roberts scattered six hits and walked two with two strikeouts. Jon Matlack took the loss; he yielded six runs in five innings. 

New York 6, Houston 5 (13 innings): The Astros bullpen blew three leads and wasted homers from Lee May, Johnny Edwards and Bob Watson. Rusty Staub singled in the walk-off winner in the bottom of the 13th. Jerry Grote led off the inning with a double off losing pitcher Jim York; Staub got the final hit off Cecil Upshaw. Buzz Capra was credited with the win. Wayne Garrett scored three times and had a game-tying homer in the 10th.

Atlanta 3, Chicago 2 (10 innings): The Braves' pinch-hitters came through in the bottom of the 10th to overtake the Cubs, who had taken the lead in the top in the inning. With two out and a man on, Frank Tepedino pinch-hit for Sonny Jackson and drew a walk of Bob Locker. Marty Perez then pinch-hit for reliever Dan Frisella and singled home the tying run. Ralph Garr singled to plate Tepedino and win the game. 

Chicago 10, Atlanta 4: Paul Popovich drove in three runs in the first three innings as the Cubs drove Roric Harrison from the mound early. Jose Cardenal, Ron Santo and Rick Monday each had a pair of RBIs, and Cardenal, Santo, Billy Williams and Pat Bourque each scored two runs. Milt Pappas allowed one run in six innings for the win.

Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 3: Rennie Stennett's two-run homer in the eighth inning off Steve Carlton put the Pirates ahead, and Dave Giusti navagated the final two innings to save the game for Jim Rooker. Rooker allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts. He gave up homers to Bill Robinson and Mike Schmidt. 

Pittsburgh 2, Philadelphia 0: Nelson Briles outdueled Ken Brett, shutting out the Phillies on four hits. Rennie Stennett had his second game-winning RBI of the day, doubling home Bob Robertson in the eighth inning off Brett. Willie Stargell homered in the ninth off Mike Wallace. 

St. Louis 7, Montreal 5: Ted Sizemore hit triples in the eighth and ninth innings as the Cardinals score five runs in the two frames to overtake the Expos. Losing pitcher Tom Walker gave a third three-bagger, to Mike Tyson, in his disastrous outing. Rich Folkers was credited with the win despite allowing two runs in his two innings of relief. Diego Segui got the save. Scipio Spinks allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings despite issuing nine walks.

Game of Monday, Sept. 15

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               79     62       .560     ---
Atlanta                 77     64       .546      2
Chicago               71     66       .518      6
Montreal              72     69       .511      7
New York            70     70       .500      8.5
Pittsburgh            66     72       .478    11.5
St. Louis              65     75       .464    14
Philadelphia         58    79       .423    19

Tuesday's games
Houston (Roberts and Forsch) at New York (Matlack and McAndrew), 2
Pittsburgh (Rooker and Briles) at Philadelphia (Carlton and Brett),2
Chicago (Reuschel and Pappas) at Atlanta (Morton and Harrison), 2
St. Louis (Spinks) at Montreal (Renko)

Atlanta 6, Pittsburgh 4: Dusty Baker's grand slam capped a five-run bottom of the eighth and propelled the Braves to the win. Dock Ellis worked around eight hits and two walks in seven innings, allowing one run on a homer by Darrell Evans, but the Pirates hit for him in the top of the eighth without success, and Ramon Hernandez was shelled in the bottom of the frame. Danny Frisella got the win, and Tom House worked the ninth for the save.

Games of Sunday, Sept. 14

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               79     62       .560     ---
Atlanta                 76     64       .543      2.5
Chicago               71     66       .518      6
Montreal              72     69       .511      7
New York            70     70       .500      8.5
Pittsburgh            66     71       .482    11
St. Louis              65     75       .464    14
Philadelphia         58    79       .423    19

Monday's game
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at Atlanta (Dobson)

Houston 6, Montreal 2: Lee May and Jimmy Wynn each hit three-run homers and Don Wilson allowed two runs on 11 hits in 7.2 innings for the win. Cecil Upshaw retired Tim Foli with the bases loaded in the eighth and Jim Ray worked the ninth. Boots Day homered for Montreal, and Ernie McAnally took the loss. The Astros' magic number is 12.

St. Louis 7, New York 3 (10 innings): The Cardinal bullpen blew a two-run lead in the ninth, but the hitters responded with a four-run rally in the top of the 10th. Lou Brock scored three runs and Joe Torre drove in three. Ted Simmons had a two-run single in the 10th. Al Hrbrosky vultured the win after blowing the save opportunity, and Buzz Capra took the loss. Bob Gibson threw four scoreless inning before leaving with an injury that will keep him from his next scheduled start.

Games of Saturday, Sept. 13

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               78     62       .557     ---
Atlanta                 76     64       .543      2
Chicago               71     66       .518      5.5
Montreal              72     68       .514      6
New York            70     69       .504      7.5
Pittsburgh            66     71       .482    10.5
St. Louis              64     75       .460    13.5
Philadelphia         58    79       .423    18.5

Sunday's games
Houston (D. Wilson) at Montreal (McAnally)
St. Louis (Gibson) at New York (Koosman)

Montreal 11, Houston 8: The first six Expos batters reached base against Astros starter and loser Jerry Reuss, who was chased after three innings and five runs. Cecil Upshaw, the first Houston reliever, allowed five straight Expos to reach after getting the first batter, all of whom scored. Mike Torrez staggered through seven innings for the win; he allowed eight runs on 12 hits, six walks and a hit batter, with Jim Wynn clubbing a grand slam to make the score 11-8 in the seventh. Mike Marshall pitched two scoreless innings for the save. Ken Singleton homered a nd had three RBIs for Montreal.

Chicago 8, Philadelphia 3: Billy Williams hit a three-run homer in the third inning, Don Kessinger scored three times and Randy Hundley doubled, tripled and walked while driving in two runs. Burt Hooton went seven innings for the win, allowing three runs on eight hits. Dick Ruthven took the loss. 

Chicago 4, Philadelphia 0: Bill Bonham retired the last 16 Phillies batters to complete his six-hit shutout. Ron Santo doubled twice, driving in one run and scoring another.Losing pitcher Jim Lonborg held the Cubs to two runs on five hits in seven innings, but Chicago plated a pair of insurance runs off reliever George Culver. 

New York 8, St. Louis 2: Tom Seaver struck out nine Cardinals in his five-hit complete game. Both runs he allowed were unearned. Rusty Staub homered in the first off Reggie Cleveland, who allowed three runs in six innings for the loss. John Milner doubled twice and scored both times, and both Jim Gosger and Jerry Grote had two RBIs.

Pittsburgh 9. Atlanta 6: Al Oliver's grand slam in the sixth inning put the Pirates ahead for good. John Morlan allowed three runs in five innings for the win, with Bob Johnson allowing two runs in three innings and Dave Giusti another in the ninth. Henry Aaron hit a pair of solo homers, one off Morlan and the other off Johnson, but left the bases loaded in the eighth. Darrell Evans also homered for Atlanta. Ron Schueler took the loss.

Games of Friday, Sept. 12

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               78     61       .561     ---
Atlanta                 76     63       .546      2
Montreal              71     68       .511      7
Chicago               69     66       .511      7
New York            69     69       .500      8.5
Pittsburgh            65     71       .478    11.5
St. Louis              64     74       .464    13.5
Philadelphia         58    78       .426    18.5

Saturday's games
Chicago (Hooton and Bonham) at Philadelphia (Ruthven and Lonborg), 2
Houston (Reuss) at Montreal (Torrez)
St. Louis (Cleveland) at New York (Seaver)
Pittsburgh (Morlan) at Atlanta (Schueler)

New York 7, St.Louis 0: George Stone spun a six-hit shutout and had two hits himself, scoring twice and driving in a run. Wayne Garrett hit a two-run homer off losing pitcher Rick Wise, and Rusty Staub drove in two runs with a double.

Chicago 2, Philadelphia : Billy Williams hit a tie-breaking triple in the sixth inning and Cub relievers Dave LaRoche, Jack Aker and Larry Gura combined to get the last seven outs despite allowing five baserunners. Fergie Jenkins got the win, Wayne Twitchell took the loss and Gura got a one-batter save.

Atlanta 20, Pittsburgh 3: Dave Johnson hit three homers, Darrel Evans a pair, and the Braves also got homers from Henry Aaron, Joe Pepitone and Mike Lum. Atlanta added seven doubles and a triple to those eight homers. In the fifth inning, the Braves slugged four straight long balls  -- Pepitone (subbing for Aaron at that point) Evans, Johnson and Lum. Phil Niekro went the distance for the win despite allowing back-to-back homers in the first to Al Oliver and Willie Stargell. He finished with a six-hitter.

Game of Thursday, Sept. 11

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               78     61       .561     ---
Atlanta                 75     63       .543      2.5
Montreal              71     68       .511      7
Chicago               68     66       .507      7.5
New York            68     69       .496      9
Pittsburgh            65     70       .481    11
St. Louis              64     73       .467    13
Philadelphia         58    77       .430    18

Friday's games
St. Louis (Wise) at New York (Stone)
Chicago (Jenkins) at Philadelphia (Twitchell)
Pittsburgh (Briles) at Atlanta (Niekro)

Montreal 18, Philadelphia 3: Ron Hunt drove in six runs and Ron Woods, Clyde Mashore and Ken Singleton all homered in the rout. The Expos led 3-1 going into the bottom of sixth, but losing pitcher Ken Brett gave up four runs in that frame and the Philly bullpen, with George Culver wearing most of the damage, was a disaster in the seventh and eighth innings. Steve Renko went eight innings for the win.

Games of Wednesday, Sept. 10

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               78     61       .561     ---
Atlanta                 75     63       .543      2.5
Montreal              70     68       .507      7.5
Chicago               68     66       .507      7.5
New York            68     69       .496      9
Pittsburgh            65     70       .481    11
St. Louis              64     73       .467    13
Philadelphia         58    76       .433    17.5

Thursday's game
Philadelphia (Brett) at Montreal (Renko) 

New York 3, Atlanta 0: The Braves had baserunners aplenty but could not push any across the plate, while the Mets scored three runs in the first inning. Winning pitcher Ray Sadecki allowed seven hits and five walks in six innings while striking out six. Buzz Capra granted two hits and a walk in two innings, and Tug McGraw a single and a walk in the ninth. All told, Atlanta left 15 men on base. Carl Morton took the loss.

Atlanta 5, New York 4: Darrell Evans homered and the Atlanta bullpen worked four innings of one-run ball to salvage a split of the doubleheader. Roric Harrison allowed three runs in five innings, which was good enough to get the win. Jimmy Freeman allowed one run in two innings, and Adrian Devine and Tom House each worked a scoreless frame, with House getting the save. Jon Matlack was the losing pitcher.

Chicago 13, Houston 6: Randy Hundley cracked a three-run homer and Jose Cardenal scored four runs as the Cubs outslugged the slumping Astros. Houston relievers issued three bases-loaded walks. Ken Forsch started and took the loss; he allowed nine runs, seven earned, in 3.2 innings. Cardenal homered, doubled and singled and drove in three runs. Milt Pappas went seven innings for the win.

Philadelphia 5, Montreal 3: Bob Boone tripled home a pair of runs and Mike Anderson scored twice. Steve Carlton had a one-hit shutout through eight innings, but gave up three straight hits to open the ninth, all of whom scored. George Culver had a one-batter save. Balor Moore, who allowed two runs in seven innings, was charged with the loss.

Pittsburgh 10, St. Louis 3: Willie Stargell hit a grand slam in the second inning. He hit a two-run homer in the sixth, the first of a back-to-back pair with Richie Zisk. Richie Hebner also hit a two-run homer. Luke Walker went seven innings for the win, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits. Mike Nagy left after the second inning and took the loss.

Games of Tuesday, Sept. 9

                              W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               78     60       .565     ---
Atlanta                 74     62       .544      3
Montreal              70     68       .507      8
Chicago               67     66       .504      8.5
New York            67     68       .496      9.5
Pittsburgh            64     70       .477    12
St. Louis              64     72       .471    13
Philadelphia         58    76       .433    18

Wednesday's games
Atlanta (Morton and Harrison) at New York ((Matlack and Sadecki), 2
Houston (Forsch) at Chicago (Pappas)
Philadelphia (Carlton) at Montreal (Moore) 
Pittsburgh (L Walker) at St. Louis (Nagy)

Chicago 4, Houston 3: Billy Williams led off the bottom of the eighth with a double, and scored the tie-breaking run two outs later on Jim Hickman's triple. Bob Locker fanned Lee May and Bob Watson with the bases loaded to save the win for Dave LaRoche. Dave Roberts, who worked all eight innings for Houston, took the loss.

St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 1: Reggie Cleveland allowed one run in seven innings and Diego Segui worked around three walks for a two-inning save. Lou Brock doubled, singles, stole a base and both scored and drove in a run. Bruce Kison was the losing pitcher, and Willie Stargell homered for Pittsburgh.

St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 2: Jim Dwyer's pinch-hit triple in the seventh inning put the Cards in front and knocked Dock Ellis out of the game. Joe Torre doubled in two runs later in the five-run outburst. Alan Foster went seven innings for the win; he allowed two runs on five hits. Al Hrbrosky and Tom Murphy each pitched a perfect inning to wrap up the game.