Games of Monday, Aug. 11

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     46       .589     ---
Atlanta                 55     52       .514     8.5
New York            55     53       .509     9
Montreal              55     54       .505     9.5
St. Louis              52     56       .482   12
Chicago               51     56       .477   12.5
Pittsburgh            49     57       .453   14
Philadelphia         48     57      .457   14.5

Tuesday's games
None

Wednesday's game
New York (Seaver) at Pittsburgh (Ellis)

New York 2, Houston 1: Ted Martinez scored from first base on Jim Fregosi's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth for the winning run. Jerry Koosman allowed six hits in his complete game win. Dave Roberts also allowed six hits in 8.2 innings and took the loss. Felix Millan homered in the sixth inning for the Mets.

Philadelphia 14, Pittsburgh 4: The Phillies scored seven runs in the first inning off Bob Moose to start the rout. Greg Luzinski homered in the third and drove in five runs in all. Denny Doyle had three hits and a walk, scored three times and drove in a pair. Mike Schmidt also had two RBIs. Steve Carlton went the distance for the win despite allowing back-to-back homers to Manny Sanguillen and Willie Stargell in the seventh.

Pittsburgh 12, Philadelphia 9: Bob Robertson homered twice, one with the bases loaded, as the Pirates got a split of the doubleheader and stayed out of the cellar. Manny Sanguillen had four hits, including a triple and a double, scored three times and drove in three runs. Greg Luzinski hit two more homers in the  and drove in four runs for the Phillies. Bruce Kison gave up six runs in six innings and was credited with the win. Wayne Twitchell was the loser.

St. Louis 6, Montreal 1: Tom Murphy allowed one run on five hits in eight innings, while Bernie Carbo and Jose Cruz each drove in two runs. Cruz was gunned down at home plate twice by Expos center fielder Boots Day. Ernie McAnally allowed five runs, three earned, in eight innings for the loss.

Atlanta 12, Chicago 5: The Braves plated eight runs of Milt Pappas in the first three innings, and Carl Morton allowed one run in eight inning despite allowing 12 hits. Herny Aaron homered for Atlanta, Ralph Garr scored three runs, Dusty Baker drove in three runs and Paul Casanova had four hits. The Cubs scored four in the ninth off Jimmy Freeman.

Games of Sunday, Aug. 10

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               66     45       .595     ---
Atlanta                 54     52       .509     8.5
Montreal              55     53       .509     9.5
New York            54     53       .505   10
Chicago               51     55       .481   12.5
St. Louis              51     56       .477   13
Pittsburgh            48     56       .462   14.5
Philadelphia         47     56      .456   15

Monday's games
Pittsburgh (Moose and Kison) at Philadelphia (Carlton and Twitchell)
St. Louis (Murphy) at Montreal (McAnally)
Houston (Roberts) at New York (Koosman)
Chicago (Pappas) at Atlanta (Morton)

Montreal 3, St. Louis 2: Mike Torrez allowed eight hits, none after the fifth inning, in his complete-game win. Boots Day drove in two runs with a single and a sac fly off losing pitcher Reggie Cleveland, who allowed three runs in six innings. Bernie Carbo scored both Cardinals runs.

Montreal 11, St.Louis 3: Rich Folkers walked eight men while allowing five runs in his four innings, and the Expos got a two-run homer from Ron Fairly and a three-run shot from Bob Bailey against the Cardinals bullpen.  Bill Stoneman got through six innings for the win, allowing two runs on nine hits and two walks. 

Houston 9, New York 8 (14 innings): Lee May tripled and scored on Doug Rader's single in the 14th inning. The game was 8-8 after nine innings, at which point the bullpens -- most Harry Parker and J.R. Richard -- put the clamps on. Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones homered for the Mets; Cesar Cedeno homered for Houston. Richard was the winner, Parker the loser and Jim Ray picked up the save.

Houston 5, New York 3: Doug Rader drove in four runs with three singles and Don Wilson allowed three runs on seven hits in eight-plus innings. Cecil Upshaw entered with a man on and no outs in the ninth and promptly got a double play grounder followed by a comebacker to get the save. Cesar Cedeno scored two runs. Lee May homered for Houston, and Wayne Garrett and John Milner homered for the Mets. George Stone took the loss.

Games of Saturday, Aug. 9

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               64     45       .587     ---
New York            54     51       .514     8
Atlanta                 54     52       .510     8.5
Montreal              53     53       .500     9.5
St. Louis              51     54       .486   11
Chicago               51     55       .481   11.5
Pittsburgh            48     56       .462   13.5
Philadelphia         47     56       .456  14

Sunday's games
St. Louis (Cleveland and Folkers) at Montreal (Torrez and Stoneman) 
Houston (Wilson and Forsch) at New York (McAndrew and Stone)

Montreal 3, St. Louis 0: Steve Renko held the Cardinals to five hits in his complete game, but he also walked six while striking out eight. Jim Lyttle tripled home the first run in the sixth inning off loser Rick Wise and scored on a sac fly. Bob Bailey homered in the eighth off Wayne Granger.

Atlanta 2, Chicago 1 (10 innings): Darrell Evans led off the bottom of the 10th with a homer off Dave LaRoche. Tom House got credit for the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Starters Bill Bonham and Phil Niekro each worked eight innings; Niekro allowed one run on six hits and Bonham one run on three hits.

Atlanta 11, Chicago 5: The pitchers duel of the first game was followed by a slugfest and sloppy defense. The Braves got homers from Darrell Evans and Dusty Baker. Rico Carty came off the bench to double, homer and walk for the Cubs. Paul Casanova drove in three runs for Atlanta, and both Ralph Garr and Dave Johnson scored three times. Roric Harrison pitched into the eighth inning for the win. Larry Gura was the loser.

Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 2: Jim Lonborg yielded two runs on three hits in the second inning, then limited the Pirates to just three hits the rest of the way. Tom Hutton's double was the centerpiece of the Phillies' rally in the fifth, in which they scored three runs on three hits and two walks. Nelson Briles took the loss.

Philadelphia 17, Pittsburgh 9: Bill Robinson drove in six runs with a homer and four singles, Terry Harmon socred four times and Tom Hutton homered with three RBIs as the Phillies completed the sweep of the doubleheader. Dave Parker pinch-hit a homer for the Pirates, and Manny Sanguillen also went deep, while Al Oliver and Richie Zisk hit back-to-back triples. Barry Lersch allowed five earned runs in six innings and was credited with the win. Luke Walker was the losing pitcher.

New York 2, Houston 1 (10 innings): Two wild pitches by Jerry Reuss in the bottom of the 10th plated the winning run for the Mets. Bud Harrelson led off the inning with a double and moved to third on the first wild pitch, thrown while pinch-hitter Ted Martinez drew a walk. The second wild pitch came during the next at-bat (Wayne Garrett). Tug McGraw got the win with three scoreless innings in relief of Jon Matlack. Cesar Cedeno threw Willie Mays out at the plate in the seventh inning. 

Games of Friday, Aug. 8

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               64     44       .593     ---
New York            53     51       .510     9
Atlanta                 52     52       .500   10
Montreal              52     53       .495   10.5
St. Louis              51     53       .490   11
Chicago               51     53       .490   11
Pittsburgh            48     54       .471   13
Philadelphia         45     56       .446  15.5

Saturday's games
St. Louis (Wise) at Montreal (Renko) 
Houston (Ruess) at New York (Matlack)
Pittsburgh (Briles, L Walker) at Philadelphia (Lersch, Lonborg)
Chicago (Bonham, Gura) at Atlanta (Niekro, Harrison)

Montreal 8, St. Louis 0: Steve Rogers threw a four-hit shutout and Tim Foli and Bob Bailey hit back-to-back homers in the first inning as the Expos overpowered Alan Foster and the Cardinals. Pepe Mangual hit a three-run blast in the eighth off Ed Sprague to blow the game open. Rogers walked five and fanned three.

New York 6, Houston 3: John Milner clubbed a three-run homer in the third and Tom Seaver struck out five Astros in a row en route to eight in his complete game win. Bud Harrelson drove in a pair of runs. Tom Griffin took the loss.

Chicago 6, Atlanta 5: Randy Hundley's three-run homer in the eighth vaulted the Cubs back into the lead, and Jim Aker retired Darrell Evans and Henry Aaron with the tying run on third in the ninth inning. Winning pitcher Rick Reuschel carried a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but Evans hit a three-run homer with two outs to put the Braves ahead. Atlanta reliever Ron Reed quickly gave that lead away. Aker gave up a solo homer in the eighth but worked around a single and an error in the ninth.  

Philadelphia 5, Pittsburgh 3: Tom Hutton's two-run homer in the eighth off John Morlan broke a 3-3 tie after Ken Brett squandered a 3-0 lead. Denny Doyle had a pair of RBI singles for the Phillies. but also committed an error that allowed the Pirates' first run in the sixth inning. Brett was the winner, Morlan the loser and George Culver pitched the ninth for the save.

Games of Thursday, Aug. 7

                             W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               64     43       .598     ---
Atlanta                 52     51       .505   10
New York            52     51       .505   10
St. Louis              51     52       .495   11
Montreal              51     53       .490   11.5
Chicago               50     53       .485   12
Pittsburgh            48     53       .475   13
Philadelphia         44     56       .440  16.5

Friday's games
St. Louis (Foster) at Montreal (Rogers) 
Houston (Griffin) at New York (Seaver)
Pittsburgh (Ellis) at Philadelphia (Brett)
Chicago (Reuschel) at Atlanta (Schueler)

Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 3: Hal Breeden homered in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the Pirates. He also tripled in the Expos' three-run seventh. Jim Rooker had carried a non-hitter into the seventh, but with one out Ken Singleton singled, Breeden tripled and Pepe Mangual homered to tie the game at 3. Mike Marshall got the win. Bob Johnson was charged with the loss.

New York 5, Chicago 0: Ray Sadeki threw a four-hit shutout while the Mets scored three runs in the first innng and another in the second off Burt Hooton. Ron Santo had three hits for the Cubs. Sadecki struck out seven in the first three innings but just one the rest of the way.

Houston 2, Philadelphia 1: The Astros had to go to their bullpen in the second when Dave Roberts came up lame, but J.R. Richard, Cecil Upshaw, Jim Ray and Jim Crawford combined to allow one run on six hits in eight innings. Ray, who worked the seventh and eighth, got credit for the win despite allowing three hits and a walk. Crawford got the save. Richard pitched three innings, allowing a solo homer to Tom Hutton. He walked four men and struck out six. Bob Watson doubled home Lee May in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. Dick Ruthven, who allowed one earned run in eight innings, was the losing pitcher. 

St. Louis 5, Atlanta 4: Ken Reitz drove in three runs with a sac fly and two-run homer and Bob Gibson held the Braves to two runs in eight innings. The Braves scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth without benefit of a base hit. Diego Segui retired the final two hitters for the save. Gary Gentry took the loss. The Atlanta loss, coupled with the Houston win, gave the Astros a 10-game lead in the standings.

Games of Wednesday, Aug. 6

                               W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               63     43       .594     ---
Atlanta                 52     50       .510     9
New York            51     51       .500   10
St. Louis              50     52       .490   11
Chicago               50     52       .490   11
Montreal              50     53       .485   11.5
Pittsburgh            48     52       .480   12
Philadelphia         44     55       .444  15.5

Thursday's games
Chicago (Hooton) at New York (Sadecki)
Pittsburgh (Rooker) at Montreal (Moore) 
Houston (Roberts) at Philadelphia (Ruthven)
St. Louis (Gibson) at Atlanta (Gentry)

Montreal 6, Pittsburgh 5: Mike Jorgensen hit a two-run homer and Larry Lintz and Bob Bailey had RBI triples. Ernie McAnally allowed five earned runs in six innings but got credit for the win anyway. Tom Walker staggered through two scoreless innings and Mike Marshall stuck out two of the three men he faced in the ninth for the save. Bob Moose took the loss.

New York 2, Chicago 0: Jerry Koosman not only threw a four-hit shutout, he drove in the game's first run with a safety squeeze bunt and scored the second after reaching on misplay by Chicago second baseman Paul Popovich. Koosman walked two, struck out five and retired the final 14 men he faced. Losing pitcher Fergie Jenkins held the Mets to three hits in eight innings; both runs he allowed were unearned.

Houston 10, Philadelphia 2: Doug Rader homered twice, while Lee May and Cesar Cedeno also went deep. The Astros stung Steve Carlton for eight runs in five innings. Don Wilson threw a five-hitter, allowing runs in the first and ninth innings.

Atlanta 3, St. Louis 2: Dave Johnson homered leading off the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie, and Carl Morton allowed seven hits, all singles, in eight innings for the win. Four of St. Louis' hits came in the fourth, when they scored both runs. Tom House threw a hitless ninth for the save. Tom Murphy was the losing pitcher.

Games of Tuesday, Aug. 5

                               W      L        Pct.     GB

Houston               62     43       .590     ---
Atlanta                 51     50       .505     9
Chicago               50     51       .490   10
New York            50     51       .495   10
St. Louis              50     51       .495   10
Pittsburgh            48     51       .485   11
Montreal              49     53       .480   11.5
Philadelphia         44     54       .449  14.5

Wednesday's games
Chicago (Jenkins) at New York (Koosman)
Pittsburgh (Moose) at Montreal (McAnally) 
Houston (Wilson) at Philadelphia (Carlton)
St. Louis (Murphy) at Atlanta (Morton)

Chicago 7, New York 6: A three-run homer by Ron Santo was the key blow in a four-run seventh inning for the Cubs, who held on despite a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth by Rusty Staub. Ray Burris got the win for 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, and Jack Aker got the final two outs for the save. Buzz Capra took the loss. Santo also doubled twice and singled and totaled two runs scored and four RBIs.

Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1: Jackie Hernandez drove in both runs for the Pirates with a pinch-hit triple in the seventh inning. Winner Bruce Kison allowed one run on three hits in six innings, and three relievers divvied up the final three innings, with Dave Giusti finishing the game for the save. Mike Torrez took the loss.

Houston 2, Philadelphia 0 (10 innings): Jim Wynn broke up the scoreless tie with a two-run homer off Ken Brett, who pinch-hit for Wayne Twitchell with two on in the bottom of the ninth and stayed on to pitch. Jerry Ruess, who allowed four hits in nine innings, got the win, and Jim Ray got three infield outs for the save. Twitchell also allowed four hits in nine innings, but walked four and had to pitch around two errors by shotstop Craig Robinson.

St. Louis 10, Atlanta 8 (12 innings): Orlando Pena threw three scoreless innings of relief for the win in a game that featured 19 hits by the Cardinals and 16 by the Braves. Atlanta got home runs from Henry Aaron and Darrell Evans. Lou Brock drove in two runs with a triple. Danny Frisella took the loss, and Diego Segui got the save.