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.