Standing out with both his arm and bat, Dan Larson drove in four runs and allowed only five hits while pitching the Astros to an 8-3 victory over the Phillies. Larson, who entered the game with just two RBIs to his credit, unloaded a bases-loaded triple in the fourth inning. Wilbur Howard singled Larson home with the fourth run of the frame. The Astros' rookie righthander accounted for his fourth RBI with a single in the eighth inning when the Astros put six hits together to score three runs. [The Sporting News]



Houston Astros 8, Philadelphia Phillies 3
Game Played on Friday, August    20, 1976 (Night game) at Veterans Stadium
Astros       1  0  0    4  0  0    0  3  0  -   8 14  0
Phillies     0  1  0    0  1  0    0  0  1  -   3  5  2


Astros               AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG      Phillies             AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG
Howard lf             4   1   3   1     1   0   .224      Cash 2b               4   0   0   0     0   0   .279
Cabell 3b             5   0   1   1     0   2   .276      Bowa ss               4   0   0   0     0   0   .256
Cedeno cf             5   0   1   1     0   1   .297      Schmidt 3b            4   0   0   0     0   2   .276
Watson 1b             5   1   1   0     0   0   .301      Luzinski lf           3   2   2   1     1   0   .308
Cruz rf               5   0   1   0     0   1   .316      Johnstone rf          4   0   1   0     0   1   .343
Johnson c             4   2   2   0     1   1   .219      Maddox cf             4   0   1   0     0   0   .321
DaVanon 2b            5   0   1   0     0   0   .323      Boone 1b              2   1   1   1     0   0   .304
Metzger ss            3   2   1   1     1   1   .225      Oates c               3   0   0   0     0   0   .215
Larson p              4   2   3   4     0   1   .300      Twitchell p           1   0   0   0     0   0   .000
                                                            Tolan ph            0   0   0   1     0   0   .234
                                                            Schueler p          0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
                                                            Garber p            0   0   0   0     0   0   .333
                                                            Brown ph            1   0   0   0     0   0   .274
                                                            Christenson p       0   0   0   0     0   0   .158

Totals               40   8  14   8     3   7             Totals               30   3   5   3     1   3

Time of Game: 2:23   Attendance: 36,049
Left on Base: Astros 8, Phillies 3
DP: Astros 0, Phillies 0
Errors: Bowa, Boone
Doubles: Cedeno (22), Boone (16)
Triples: Larson (1)
Home Runs: Luzinski (19)
Stolen Bases: Howard 2 (7)
Sacrifice Flies: Boone (5), Tolan (4)


Astros                 IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Larson W(3-4)           9     5   3   3   1   3   1  33   2.82
Totals                  9     5   3   3   1   3   1  33

Phillies               IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Twitchell L(2-1)        5     6   5   1   3   6   0  24   1.82
Schueler                2.2   6   3   3   0   1   0  13   3.34
Garber                  0.1   1   0   0   0   0   0   2   2.75
Christenson             1     1   0   0   0   0   0   4   4.14
Totals                  9    14   8   4   3   7   0  43

Wild Pitches: Twitchell (4)

Umpires: HP - John Kibler, 1B - Terry Tata, 2B - Doug Harvey, 3B - Frank Pulli


ASTROS 1ST: Howard singled to first; Howard stole second; Cabell
struck out; Cedeno doubled to right [Howard scored]; Watson
grounded out (first unassisted) [Cedeno to third]; Cruz struck
out; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Astros 1, Phillies 0.

PHILLIES 1ST: Cash grounded out (third to first); Bowa flied out
to right; Schmidt struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 1,
Phillies 0.

ASTROS 2ND: Johnson struck out; DaVanon grounded out (second to
first); Metzger struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 1,
Phillies 0.

PHILLIES 2ND: Luzinski walked; Johnstone singled to center
[Luzinski to second]; Maddox singled to center [Luzinski to
third, Johnstone to second]; Boone hit a sacrifice fly to center
[Luzinski scored, Johnstone to third]; Oates popped to
shortstop; Twitchell forced Maddox (shortstop unassisted); 1 R,
2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.  Astros 1, Phillies 1.

ASTROS 3RD: Larson struck out; Howard walked; Howard stole
second; Cabell grounded out (second to first); Cedeno struck
out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Astros 1, Phillies 1.

PHILLIES 3RD: Cash lined to second; Bowa grounded out (second to
first); Schmidt grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Astros 1, Phillies 1.

ASTROS 4TH: Watson reached on an error by Boone [Watson to
first]; Cruz popped to shortstop; Johnson walked [Watson to
second]; DaVanon flied out to center; Metzger walked [Watson to
third, Johnson to second]; Larson tripled to center [Watson
scored (unearned), Johnson scored (unearned), Metzger scored
(unearned)]; Howard singled to shortstop [Larson scored
(unearned), Howard to second (error by Bowa)]; Cabell grounded
out (third to first); 4 R (0 ER), 2 H, 2 E, 1 LOB.  Astros 5,
Phillies 1.

PHILLIES 4TH: Luzinski grounded out (shortstop to first);
Johnstone struck out; Maddox grounded out (first unassisted); 0
R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 1.

ASTROS 5TH: Cedeno grounded out (shortstop to first); Watson
singled to right; Twitchell threw a wild pitch [Watson to
second]; Cruz singled to right [Watson out at home (right to
catcher)]; Johnson grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 2 H, 0 E,
1 LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 1.

PHILLIES 5TH: Boone doubled to left; Oates grounded out (first
unassisted) [Boone to third]; TOLAN BATTED FOR TWITCHELL; Tolan
hit a sacrifice fly to left [Boone scored]; Cash grounded out
(third to first); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 2.

ASTROS 6TH: SCHUELER REPLACED TOLAN (PITCHING); DaVanon grounded
out (shortstop to first); Metzger flied out to center; Larson
singled to center; Howard flied out to left; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1
LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 2.

PHILLIES 6TH: Bowa flied out to left; Schmidt flied out to
right; Luzinski singled to left; Johnstone popped to shortstop;
0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 2.

ASTROS 7TH: Cabell struck out; Cedeno flied out to left; Watson
grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 5,
Phillies 2.

PHILLIES 7TH: Maddox grounded out (shortstop to first); Boone
grounded out (third to first); Oates popped to shortstop; 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 5, Phillies 2.

ASTROS 8TH: Cruz grounded out (shortstop to first); Johnson
singled to left; DaVanon singled to center [Johnson to second];
Metzger singled to left [Johnson scored, DaVanon to third];
DaVanon was picked off third (catcher to third) [Metzger to
second]; Larson singled to right [Metzger scored]; Howard
singled to shortstop [Larson to second]; GARBER REPLACED
SCHUELER (PITCHING); Cabell singled to left [Larson scored,
Howard to second]; Cedeno flied out to center; 3 R, 6 H, 0 E, 2
LOB.  Astros 8, Phillies 2.

PHILLIES 8TH: BROWN BATTED FOR GARBER; Brown grounded out
(second to first); Cash lined to first; Bowa flied out to
center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 8, Phillies 2.

ASTROS 9TH: CHRISTENSON REPLACED BROWN (PITCHING); Watson
grounded out (shortstop to first); Cruz flied out to left;
Johnson singled to left; DaVanon flied out to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0
E, 1 LOB.  Astros 8, Phillies 2.

PHILLIES 9TH: Schmidt struck out; Luzinski homered; Johnstone
grounded out (first to pitcher); Maddox flied out to center; 1
R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Astros 8, Phillies 3.