MLB standings through games of July 2, 1976

MLB standings at the end of July 2, 1976

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. East
New York Yankees	71	44	27	0	.620		330	254	21-18	23-9	6-4	Won 1
Cleveland Indians	71	37	34	0	.521	7.0	293	265	19-16	18-18	6-4	Lost 1
Boston Red Sox	71	35	36	0	.493	9.0	309	296	17-19	18-17	5-5	Won 1
Detroit Tigers	71	35	36	0	.493	9.0	300	331	17-18	18-18	7-3	Lost 1
Baltimore Orioles	73	35	38	0	.479	10.0	266	284	17-21	18-17	4-6	Won 1
Milwaukee Brewers	68	26	42	0	.382	16.5	249	299	13-16	13-26	2-8	Lost 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. West
Kansas City Royals	73	45	28	0	.616		374	281	27-11	18-17	6-4	Won 1
Texas Rangers	71	40	31	0	.563	4.0	318	295	24-18	16-13	6-4	Lost 1
Oakland A's	76	37	39	0	.487	9.5	323	320	21-16	16-23	5-5	Lost 1
Chicago White Sox	72	34	38	0	.472	10.5	277	303	15-16	19-22	4-6	Won 1
Minnesota Twins	73	34	39	0	.466	11.0	298	333	16-19	18-20	4-6	Won 1
California Angels	78	32	46	0	.410	15.5	258	334	16-23	16-23	4-6	Lost 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. East
Philadelphia Phillies	71	50	21	0	.704		399	256	26-13	24-8	7-3	Lost 1
Pittsburgh Pirates	71	42	29	0	.592	8.0	315	299	21-15	21-14	7-3	Won 4
New York Mets	78	41	37	0	.526	12.5	308	264	20-16	21-21	8-2	Won 8
St. Louis Cardinals	74	32	42	0	.432	19.5	269	319	15-21	17-21	4-6	Won 1
Chicago Cubs	74	30	44	0	.405	21.5	295	408	15-20	15-24	2-8	Lost 7
Montreal Expos	68	24	44	0	.353	24.5	243	310	11-20	13-24	2-8	Lost 3

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. West
Cincinnati Reds	77	46	31	0	.597		442	300	21-15	25-16	4-6	Lost 3
Los Angeles Dodgers	78	42	36	0	.538	4.5	310	312	25-14	17-22	5-5	Lost 3
San Diego Padres	77	41	36	0	.532	5.0	318	321	26-21	15-15	5-5	Won 3
Houston Astros	77	36	41	0	.468	10.0	309	354	20-20	16-21	5-5	Won 2
Atlanta Braves	76	35	41	0	.461	10.5	327	321	14-21	21-20	6-4	Won 2
San Francisco Giants	79	31	48	0	.392	16.0	298	369	18-22	13-26	6-4	Lost 1

Today's scores and summaries:

Orioles 2, Tigers 1 at Baltimore (night game):
Hitting a pair of doubles, Mark Belanger scored one run and drove in another to enable the Orioles to defeat the Tigers, 2-1, as Jim Palmer gained his 10th victory of the season. In the third inning, Belanger's first double, a single by Brooks Robinson, pass to Dave Duncan and single by Al Bumbry produced the Orioles' initial run. The Tigers came back to tie the score in the fifth, but Reggie Jackson led off the seventh with single, Lee May sacrificed and Belanger hit his second double of the game to drive in the winning run.

White Sox 1, Rangers 0 at Chicago (night game):
Bart Johnson beat the Rangers for the seventh straight time without a loss in his career as the White Sox gained a 1-0 victory to snap their nine-game home losing streak. Bert Blyleven, who had two 10-inning 1-0 victories to his credit in his last pair of previous starts, was the loser, giving up the lone run in the first inning on singles by Chet Lemon and Jorge Orta around a sacrifice.

Yankees 7, Indians 1 at Cleveland (night game):
Backed by two homers, accounting for five runs, Catfish Hunter pitched the Yankees to a 7-1 victory over the Indians to become a 10-game winner. In the first inning, Mickey Rivers doubled, Roy White bunted safely and Thurman Munson hit the first of his four singles in the game to account for the Yankees' initial run. After Lou Piniella struck out, Chris Chambliss came to the plate and homered to make it 4-0. George Hendrick spoiled Hunter's shutout with a circuit clout in the second, but Piniella smacked a two-run homer for the Yankees in the third.

Royals 8, A's 5 at Kansas City (night game):
Vida Blue, who was sold to the Yankees and then returned to the Athletics by order of Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, pitched for the first time since June 11 and was kayoed in the sixth inning to absorb an 8-5 loss to the Royals. Blue got off to a bad start, yielding five runs in the first two frames, but the A's came back to tie the score before a double by John Mayberry, the first batter in the sixth, led to Blue's exit. After Stan Bahnsen relieved, Hal McRae sacrificed. When Al Cowens hit a grounder, Mayberry returned to third safely while Cowens reached first. As the runners started with the pitch, Buck Martinez attempted a squeeze bunt and missed the ball, but Mayberry slid home safely and was credited with a stolen base. Cowens advanced to second, pilfered third and then stored on a wild pitch. Mayberry added a run for the Royals with a homer in the eighth inning.

Red Sox 3, Brewers 0 at Milwaukee (night game):
Bobby Darwin homered in his very first time at bat against his former teammates to start the Red Sox off to a 3-0 victory over the Brewers. Dick Pole and Jim Willoughby combined on the shutout, Pole pitching the first 5 1/3 innings. Darwin hit his homer in the second and the Red Sox then added a pair in the sixth on singles by Butch Hobson and Fred Lynn, a sacrifice fly by Jim Rice, single by Carl Yastrzemski, a hit batsman and walk to Dwight Evans with the bases loaded.

Twins 6, Angels 5 at Minnesota (night game):
Taking inspiration from Rod Carew, who knocked in three of the Twins' first five runs, Craig Kusick plated a tally with a single in the fifth inning to defeat the Angels, 6-5. Carew hit a homer and double as the Twins built up a 5-0 lead in the first two innings, but the Angels rallied to tie the score in the third with the aid of a three-run shot by Bruce Bochte. However in the fifth, Butch Wynegar walked with two out, advanced on a single by Lyman Bostock and scored the deciding run on Kusick's hit.

[DH] Astros 10, Reds 8 (day game) / Astros 3, Reds 2 at Cincinnati (night game):
Cesar Cedeno smashed seven hits in 11 times at bat and drove in the winning run in both ends of a twi-night doubleheader as the Astros defeated the Reds, 10-8 and 3-2, with the opener going 14 innings. The Astros apparently had the first game won in the 11th when they scored three runs, but the Reds came back to forge a new tie in their half. However in the 14th, after a single by Rob Andrews, Cedeno hit a homer to break the deadlock and the Astros went on to add an extra run on a walk to Skip Jutze and singles by Enos Cabell and Jerry DaVanon. In the nightcap, Cedeno hit a two-run double in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Astros their sweep. Ed Herrmann doubled to open the stanza and Joaquin Andujar beat out an infield hit, sending pinch-runner Jutze to third. After a walk to Cabell, Andrews forced Jutze at the plate, but Cedeno followed with his game-winning double.

Mets 2, Cubs 1 at New York (night game):
Three singles -- one by Jerry Morales in the first inning and the others by Bill Madlock and Morales in the ninth -- were all that the Cubs could manage off Jerry Koosman while losing to the Mets, 2-1. A walk to Jose Cardenal in the first, Morales' hit and a passed ball produced the Cubs' run, but the Mets picked up the tying tally on an error by Morales in their half. The Mets then put over the deciding run in the sixth when Bruce Boisclair singled, stole second, went to third on an infield out and came home on a single by Ron Hodges.

Pirates 10, Phillies 9 at Pittsburgh (night game):
In a slugfest that produced five homers, Bill Robinson came up as a pinch-hitter for the Pirates in the 10th inning and connected for the circuit to beat the Phillies, 10-9. Willie Stargell and Richie Hebner homered previously for the Pirates, Stargell's blow coming with two men on base. However, Greg Luzinski hit a two-run homer for the Phillies in the first and Dick Allen came through with a grand slam in the fifth, but the Pirates held a 9-6 lead going into the ninth when the Phillies rallied to tie the score.

Padres 6, Dodgers 3 at San Diego (night game):
Rallying for three runs in the fourth inning, the Padres posted a 6-3 victory to beat the Dodgers for the sixth time in their first seven meetings this season. The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead with a two-run homer by Steve Yeager in the fourth, but the Padres came bouncing back in their half. Doug Rader led off with a homer to tie the score. Fred Kendall and Enzo Hernandez followed with singles. Alan Foster beat out an infield hit to Ron Cey and when the Dodger third baseman threw wildly, Kendall scored the go-ahead run. Hernandez later came home on a passed ball.

Braves 7, Giants 2 at San Francisco (night game):
Andy Messersmith tossed a six-hitter and also batted in two runs while pitching the Braves to a 7-2 victory over the Giants, winning for the sixth time in the million-dollar pitcher's last seven starts. A double by Rob Belloir and single by Messersmith accounted for the Braves' initial run in the third inning. The Braves pushed over two more tallies in the fifth and then clinched the verdict with three in the sixth with Messersmith's second single as one of the ingredients in the scoring.

Cardinals 3, Expos 0 at St. Louis (night game):
Lynn McGlothen, who had lost four and won only one of his last five previous starts, fired a five-hitter and pitched the Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over the Expos. The Cardinals, who had been scoreless for 23 consecutive innings, also broke out of their slump with two runs off Woodie Fryman in the fifth on a single by Mike Tyson, sacrifice by McGlothen, single by Jerry Mumphrey and double by Don Kessinger.