MLB standings through games of September 15, 1971

MLB standings at the end of September 15, 1971

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. East
Baltimore Orioles	143	89	54	0	.622		654	494	49-24	40-30	5-5	Lost 3
Detroit Tigers	149	84	65	0	.564	8.0	645	595	48-25	36-40	7-3	Won 3
Boston Red Sox	150	77	73	0	.513	15.5	636	620	42-33	35-40	4-6	Won 1
New York Yankees	148	75	73	0	.507	16.5	593	575	40-34	35-39	8-2	Won 3
Washington Senators	145	58	87	0	.400	32.0	481	599	31-41	27-46	1-9	Lost 7
Cleveland Indians	146	57	89	0	.390	33.5	503	657	27-45	30-44	4-6	Lost 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. West
Oakland A's	149	94	55	0	.631		644	520	42-30	52-25	5-5	Lost 1
Kansas City Royals	148	79	69	0	.534	14.5	555	515	43-33	36-36	6-4	Lost 1
California Angels	149	70	79	0	.470	24.0	476	524	33-42	37-37	6-4	Won 1
Chicago White Sox	149	70	79	0	.470	24.0	567	570	35-40	35-39	4-6	Won 1
Minnesota Twins	146	68	78	0	.466	24.5	606	628	35-35	33-43	5-5	Won 2
Milwaukee Brewers	148	64	84	0	.432	29.5	497	560	34-44	30-40	4-6	Lost 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. East
Pittsburgh Pirates	150	91	59	0	.607		750	567	50-26	41-33	8-2	Won 4
St. Louis Cardinals	150	82	67	1	.550	8.5	674	651	41-34	41-33	5-5	Lost 3
New York Mets	149	77	72	0	.517	13.5	558	515	41-33	36-39	5-5	Lost 2
Chicago Cubs	149	76	73	0	.510	14.5	592	605	41-34	35-39	3-7	Won 2
Montreal Expos	148	65	82	1	.442	24.5	569	654	31-39	34-43	6-4	Won 1
Philadelphia Phillies	149	61	88	0	.409	29.5	510	642	32-43	29-45	3-7	Lost 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. West
San Francisco Giants	149	83	66	0	.557		652	600	49-28	34-38	1-9	Lost 3
Los Angeles Dodgers	149	82	67	0	.550	1.0	618	539	38-35	44-32	8-2	Lost 1
Atlanta Braves	150	76	74	0	.507	7.5	603	649	40-35	36-39	6-4	Won 2
Houston Astros	149	73	76	0	.490	10.0	542	538	36-38	37-38	8-2	Lost 2
Cincinnati Reds	151	73	78	0	.483	11.0	538	533	42-34	31-44	5-5	Won 1
San Diego Padres	149	56	93	0	.376	27.0	452	565	31-44	25-49	3-7	Won 2

Today's scores and summaries:

Yankees 4, Orioles 2 at Baltimore (night game):
A two-run single by Ron Swoboda in the ninth inning enabled the Yankees to defeat the Orioles, 4-2. Ron Hansen and Bobby Murcer homered to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Then, in the ninth, Murcer singled, Felipe Alou doubled and Swoboda hit his single for the winning margin. Brooks Robinson homered in the Orioles' half of the ninth.

[DH] A's 3, White Sox 2 (night game) / White Sox 7, A's 3 at Chicago (night game):
The Athletics, who won the first game of a twi-night doubleheader with the White Sox, 3-2, and lost the second game, 7-3, clinched the West division title when the runner-up Royals were defeated by the Angels, 6-2. Jay Johnstone and Bill Melton hit homers for the White Sox to put them ahead in the opener, 2-1, but Reggie Jackson doubled for the A's in the eighth and Sal Bando hit for the circuit to beat Wilbur Wood. In the nightcap, Tom Egan smashed a three-run homer in the second inning to start White Sox on the way to their triumph. Carlos May contributed four hits. Rick Monday rapped a homer for the A's.

Red Sox 6, Indians 5 at Cleveland (night game):
Joe Lahoud doubled with two out in the ninth inning, scoring Carlton Fisk, to give the Red Sox a 6-5 victory over the Indians. A two-run homer by Rico Petrocelli and scoring singles by Fisk and Cecil Cooper put the Red Sox ahead, 4-0, before the Indians rallied to tie the score in the sixth. After the clubs traded runs in the eighth, Fisk singled in the ninth, advanced on a sacrifice and stopped at third on a single by Doug Griffin. Juan Beniquez popped up, but Lahoud came through with his deciding double.

Tigers 4, Senators 2 at Detroit (night game):
Denny McLain was handed his 20th defeat of the season when the Tigers beat the Senators, 4-2, behind the pitching of Joe Coleman, who gained his 18th victory and struck out a career high of 14 in the game. Aurelio Rodriguez homered off McLain in the first inning, Mickey Stanley drove in a run with a single in the fourth, Norm Cash walked with the bases loaded in the fifth and Jim Northrup homered in the sixth.

Angels 6, Royals 2 at Kansas City (night game):
Andy Messersmith pitched a four-hitter and also smashed a two-run homer as the Angels defeated the Royals, 6-2. Messersmith's homer capped a four-run outburst in the second inning. Ken McMullen, Roger Repoz and Billy Parker singled to load the bases. McMullen scored while the Royals were executing a double play on a grounder by Ken Berry, Jeff Torborg singled to drive in the second run and Messersmith followed with his homer.

Twins 1, Brewers 0 at Milwaukee (night game):
After Rod Carew singled in the first inning, the Twins did not get another hit off Skip Lockwood until two out in the ninth when Harmon Killebrew walked and Steve Braun tripled to beat the Brewers, 1-0. Bert Blyleven posted the shutout on a six-hitter.

Braves 4, Astros 2 at Houston (night game):
Hank Aaron hit his 44th homer of the season and drove in the 1,954th run of his career, tying him with Ty Cobb for third place on the majors' list of RBI leaders, to feature the Braves' 4-2 victory over the Astros.

Padres 2, Dodgers 1 at Los Angeles (night game):
The Dodgers lost a chance to move into a tie with the Giants for the West division lead when they were stopped on their eight-game winning streak by the Padres, who gained a 2-1 victory on a tie-breaking homer by Larry Stahl in the sixth inning. The Padres, who had ended an eight-game streak by the Astros in the previous night's game, started the scoring against the Dodgers with an unearned run in the second inning. Leron Lee and Stahl led off with singles and when Don Sutton threw wildly on a bunt by Garry Jestadt, Lee raced home. The Dodgers pulled even against Dave Roberts in the home half. Manny Mota and Wes Parker singled, but Mota was run down and retired when Steve Garvey tapped to Roberts. Parker took second on the play, advanced to third after a long fly by Duke Sims and scored on an infield hit by Sutton. Stahl's homer in the sixth was only the ninth given up by Sutton in a total of 241 innings pitched this season.

[DH] Cubs 6, Mets 2 (night game) / Cubs 3, Mets 2 at New York (night game):
Bill Hands, who had lost six straight games, turned winner for the first time since August 3 and Burt Hooton followed with his first major league victory as the Cubs beat the Mets in a twi-night doubleheader, 6-2 and 3-2. Hands started himself on the road to triumph with a two-run single in the second inning of the lidlifter. Frank Fernandez homered in the fourth and Paul Popovich connected for the circuit with a man on base in the fifth. Ed Kranepool accounted for the Mets' runs with a homer in the ninth. Hooton, making his first start since his return from Tacoma (Pacific Coast), struck out 15 and allowed only three hits in the nightcap. However, after the Cubs took a 2-0 lead against Tug McGraw, who was making his first start of the season, Ken Singleton hit a two-run homer to tie the score in the seventh. Billy Williams then won the game for Hooton with a homer off Danny Frisella in the ninth.

Expos 1, Phillies 0 at Philadelphia (night game):
A sacrifice fly by Bobby Wine, following a three-base error, enabled Ernie McAnally to pitch the Expos to a 1-0 victory over the Phillies in a duel with Woodie Fryman. In the eighth inning, John Boccabella lifted a fly to short right field and when Denny Doyle bumped into Willie Montanez, the ball bounced away as Boccabella raced to third. Doyle was charged with an error. Clyde Mashore ran for Boccabella and scored on Wine's fly.

Pirates 4, Cardinals 1 at Pittsburgh (night game):
Dock Ellis, who had been sidelined by elbow trouble, made his first start since September 1 and pitched the Pirates to a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals with the aid of Ramon Hernandez, who relieved in the eighth inning. As a result of the triumph, the Pirates widened their margin to 8½ games over the Cardinals in the East division race. The Pirates started the scoring in the first inning when Gene Clines singled and raced home from first base on a run-and-hit single by Roberto Clemente. In the fourth, after singles by Bob Robertson and Dave Cash around a wild pitch produced another tally, Al Oliver clinched the victory with a two-run homer. Ted Simmons hit for the circuit to account for the Cards' run in the seventh.

Reds 4, Giants 2 at San Francisco (night game):
The Giants suffered their third straight defeat and 10th in the last 11 games when they collected only six hits off Jim McGlothlin and lost to the Reds, 4-2. Willie McCovey and Dick Dietz homered to produce the Giants' runs. The Reds began their scoring with a run in the third inning on a single by Woody Woodward, a stolen base and single by Tony Perez. Two more followed in the fifth when Tommy Helms singled, Pete Rose tripled and Lee May singled. Bernie Carbo singled in the sixth, advanced to third on a wild pitch and counted the Reds' last run on a sacrifice fly by Helms. Despite the defeat, the Giants remained one game ahead of the Dodgers in the West division race.