Tommy John gained his 20th victory of the season, but the Dodgers had to call on two relievers in the ninth inning before edging the Astros, 5-4. John helped himself by driving in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Steve Yeager homered in the fifth and Dusty Baker also hit for the circuit after a pass to Steve Garvey in the sixth. Bill Russell, who had three hits, drove in what proved to be the deciding run in the seventh. [The Sporting News]



Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Houston Astros 4
Game Played on Sunday, September 25, 1977 (Day game) at Astrodome
Dodgers      0  1  0    0  1  2    1  0  0  -   5  7  0
Astros       0  1  0    0  0  1    0  0  2  -   4  9  0


Dodgers              AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG      Astros               AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG
Lopes 2b              4   1   1   0     1   0   .283      Puhl lf               4   0   0   0     0   1   .289
Russell ss            5   0   3   1     0   0   .277        Howard ph           1   0   1   2     0   0   .251
Smith rf              3   0   0   0     1   0   .309      Cabell 3b             5   1   2   0     0   0   .284
Cey 3b                3   1   0   0     1   1   .246      Cedeno cf             4   0   1   0     0   1   .268
Garvey 1b             3   0   0   0     1   0   .295      Watson 1b             4   0   0   0     0   1   .287
Baker lf              3   2   2   2     1   0   .288      Cruz rf               3   1   2   1     1   1   .298
  Simpson pr,lf       0   0   0   0     0   0   .067      Howe 2b               3   2   2   0     1   0   .256
Monday cf             2   0   0   0     1   2   .236      Herrmann c            3   0   1   1     0   0   .285
  Burke cf            1   0   0   0     0   0   .261        Ferguson ph         1   0   0   0     0   0   .257
Yeager c              4   1   1   1     0   0   .255      Metzger ss            2   0   0   0     0   0   .185
John p                3   0   0   1     0   1   .179        Roberts ph          1   0   0   0     0   0   .087
  Rautzhan p          0   0   0   0     0   0   .000        Fischlin ss         0   0   0   0     0   0   .200
  Garman p            0   0   0   0     0   0   .000        Fuller ph           1   0   0   0     0   0   .160
                                                          Niekro p              2   0   0   0     0   2   .128
                                                            Walton ph           1   0   0   0     0   1   .273
                                                            Thomas p            0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
                                                            Sperring ph         0   0   0   0     1   0   .189
                                                            Cannon pr           0   0   0   0     0   0   .333

Totals               31   5   7   5     6   4             Totals               35   4   9   4     3   7

Time of Game: 2:27   Attendance: 16,579
Left on Base: Dodgers 6, Astros 7
DP: Dodgers 1, Astros 2
Doubles: Russell (27), Baker (25), Howe (21)
Home Runs: Yeager (16), Baker (29)
Stolen Bases: Russell (15), Baker (2), Lopes (46)
Sacrifice Flies: John (1)
GIDP: Smith (5), Baker (8), Watson (8)


Dodgers                IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
John W(20-6)            8     8   4   4   2   7   0  33   2.73
Rautzhan                0.2   1   0   0   1   0   0   4   4.19
Garman SV(11)           0.1   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   2.85
Totals                  9     9   4   4   3   7   0  38

Astros                 IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Niekro L(13-8)          7     6   5   4   6   3   2  31   2.90
Thomas                  2     1   0   0   0   1   0   7   0.00
Totals                  9     7   5   4   6   4   2  38

Passed Balls: Herrmann (7)

Umpires: HP - Eric Gregg, 1B - John Kibler, 2B - Jerry Dale, 3B - Ed Montague


DODGERS 1ST: Lopes singled to center; Russell singled to center
[Lopes to second]; Smith flied out to right [Lopes to third];
Russell stole second; Cey struck out; Garvey grounded out
(second to first); 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.  Dodgers 0, Astros 0.

ASTROS 1ST: Puhl grounded out (second to first); Cabell grounded
out (second to first); Cedeno flied out to right; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
0 LOB.  Dodgers 0, Astros 0.

DODGERS 2ND: Baker walked; Baker stole second; Monday walked;
Herrmann allowed a passed ball [Baker to third, Monday to
second]; Yeager flied out to right; John hit a sacrifice fly to
left [Baker scored (unearned)]; Lopes made an out to shortstop;
1 R (0 ER), 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Dodgers 1, Astros 0.

ASTROS 2ND: Watson struck out (catcher to first); Cruz struck
out; Howe doubled to center; Herrmann singled to left [Howe
scored]; Metzger grounded out (shortstop to first); 1 R, 2 H, 0
E, 1 LOB.  Dodgers 1, Astros 1.

DODGERS 3RD: Russell singled to left; Smith grounded into a
double play (third to shortstop to first) [Russell out at
second]; Cey flied out to left; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Dodgers
1, Astros 1.

ASTROS 3RD: Niekro struck out; Puhl grounded out (shortstop to
first); Cabell flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Dodgers 1, Astros 1.

DODGERS 4TH: Garvey walked; Baker grounded into a double play
(shortstop to second to first) [Garvey out at second]; Monday
struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Dodgers 1, Astros 1.

ASTROS 4TH: Cedeno grounded out (shortstop to first); Watson
flied out to center; Cruz walked; Howe singled to right [Cruz to
second]; Herrmann grounded out (first unassisted); 0 R, 1 H, 0
E, 2 LOB.  Dodgers 1, Astros 1.

DODGERS 5TH: Yeager homered; John flied out to left; Lopes flied
out to center; Russell grounded out (third to first); 1 R, 1 H,
0 E, 0 LOB.  Dodgers 2, Astros 1.

ASTROS 5TH: Metzger grounded out (second to first); Niekro
struck out; Puhl struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Dodgers 2,
Astros 1.

DODGERS 6TH: Smith grounded out (second to first); Cey walked;
Garvey grounded out (first unassisted) [Cey to second]; Baker
homered [Cey scored]; Monday struck out; 2 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Dodgers 4, Astros 1.

ASTROS 6TH: BURKE REPLACED MONDAY (PLAYING CF); Cabell singled
to center; Cedeno struck out; Watson grounded out (third to
first) [Cabell to second]; Cruz singled to center [Cabell
scored]; Howe flied out to left; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Dodgers
4, Astros 2.

DODGERS 7TH: Yeager made an out to second; John grounded out
(shortstop to first); Lopes walked; Lopes stole second; Russell
doubled to left [Lopes scored]; Smith walked; Cey forced Smith
(shortstop to second); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.  Dodgers 5, Astros
2.

ASTROS 7TH: Herrmann grounded out (catcher to first); ROBERTS
BATTED FOR METZGER; Roberts grounded out (third to first);
WALTON BATTED FOR NIEKRO; Walton struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Dodgers 5, Astros 2.

DODGERS 8TH: THOMAS REPLACED WALTON (PITCHING); FISCHLIN
REPLACED ROBERTS (PLAYING SS); Garvey grounded out (shortstop to
first); Baker doubled to left; SIMPSON RAN FOR BAKER; Burke
flied out to left; Yeager grounded out (shortstop to first); 0
R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Dodgers 5, Astros 2.

ASTROS 8TH: SIMPSON STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING LF); Puhl grounded
out (third to first); Cabell singled to left; Cedeno singled to
second [Cabell to second]; Watson grounded into a double play
(shortstop to second to first) [Cedeno out at second]; 0 R, 2 H,
0 E, 1 LOB.  Dodgers 5, Astros 2.

DODGERS 9TH: John struck out; Lopes flied out to left; Russell
grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Dodgers 5,
Astros 2.

ASTROS 9TH: Cruz singled to right; Howe walked [Cruz to second];
RAUTZHAN REPLACED JOHN (PITCHING); FERGUSON BATTED FOR HERRMANN;
Ferguson flied out to center; FULLER BATTED FOR FISCHLIN; Fuller
flied out to left; SPERRING BATTED FOR THOMAS; Sperring walked
[Cruz to third, Howe to second]; CANNON RAN FOR SPERRING; HOWARD
BATTED FOR PUHL; Howard singled to left [Cruz scored, Howe
scored, Cannon to third]; GARMAN REPLACED RAUTZHAN (PITCHING);
Cabell flied out to center; 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.  Dodgers 5,
Astros 4.