MLB standings through games of August 31, 1979

MLB standings at the end of August 31, 1979

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. East
Baltimore Orioles	132	87	45	0	.659		629	492	47-19	40-26	7-3	Lost 1
Milwaukee Brewers	136	81	55	0	.596	8.0	681	611	45-24	36-31	6-4	Lost 1
Boston Red Sox	131	78	53	0	.595	8.5	711	573	45-20	33-33	3-7	Won 1
New York Yankees	131	72	59	0	.550	14.5	593	542	41-26	31-33	6-4	Won 1
Detroit Tigers	135	73	62	0	.541	15.5	665	640	39-26	34-36	8-2	Lost 1
Cleveland Indians	135	69	66	0	.511	19.5	640	663	37-29	32-37	7-3	Lost 1
Toronto Blue Jays	134	43	91	0	.321	45.0	500	711	23-42	20-49	4-6	Won 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
A.L. West
California Angels	135	72	63	0	.533		728	631	39-29	33-34	2-8	Won 1
Kansas City Royals	134	71	63	0	.530	0.5	714	702	39-28	32-35	7-3	Lost 1
Minnesota Twins	133	69	64	0	.519	2.0	643	606	35-33	34-31	4-6	Won 1
Texas Rangers	135	64	71	0	.474	8.0	618	592	36-32	28-39	3-7	Lost 1
Chicago White Sox	133	58	75	0	.436	13.0	597	627	24-42	34-33	3-7	Won 1
Seattle Mariners	136	57	79	0	.419	15.5	603	691	32-37	25-42	4-6	Lost 1
Oakland A's	136	44	92	0	.324	28.5	489	730	26-43	18-49	4-6	Won 1

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. East
Pittsburgh Pirates	133	78	54	1	.591		625	540	39-28	39-26	7-3	Won 3
Montreal Expos	126	72	54	0	.571	3.0	550	470	44-19	28-35	7-3	Won 3
Chicago Cubs	131	71	60	0	.542	6.5	602	580	41-26	30-34	4-6	Lost 1
St. Louis Cardinals	132	70	61	1	.534	7.5	606	564	38-29	32-32	7-3	Won 1
Philadelphia Phillies	134	66	67	1	.496	12.5	566	597	36-31	30-36	2-8	Won 1
New York Mets	131	52	78	1	.400	25.0	493	576	27-39	25-39	2-8	Lost 3

	GP	W	L	T	PCT	GB	RF	RA	HOME	ROAD	LAST 10	STRK
N.L. West
Cincinnati Reds	135	77	58	0	.570		631	534	41-27	36-31	8-2	Lost 1
Houston Astros	134	76	58	0	.567	0.5	482	482	44-23	32-35	6-4	Won 1
Los Angeles Dodgers	134	62	72	0	.463	14.5	620	624	36-30	26-42	5-5	Won 1
San Francisco Giants	134	60	74	0	.448	16.5	592	625	31-33	29-41	3-7	Lost 1
San Diego Padres	135	57	78	0	.422	20.0	503	591	35-33	22-45	4-6	Lost 1
Atlanta Braves	133	53	80	0	.398	23.0	561	648	28-36	25-44	6-4	Lost 1

Today's scores and summaries:

Twins 3, Orioles 1 at Baltimore (night game):
The Twins scored one run on a homer by Ken Landreaux and two others on wild pitches by Dennis Martinez to defeat the Orioles, 3-1. Butch Wynegar walked in the third inning, advanced on a single by Hosken Powell and infield out and crossed the plate on a wild pitch. The Orioles notched the matching tally on singles by Doug DeCinces, Lee May and Gary Roenicke in the fourth. Landreaux hit his homer for the deciding run in the sixth and the Twins added an insurance marker in that same stanza on a pass to Dave Edwards, single by Mike Cubbage and another wild pitch by Martinez.

Red Sox 9, Rangers 6 at Boston (night game):
Tom Poquette belted a three-run homer and Carl Yastrzemski connected for the circuit with a man on base for the 2,991st hit of his career, helping the Red Sox to defeat the Rangers, 9-6. Rick Burleson knocked in the first Red Sox run with a single in the second inning before Poquette made it 4-0 with his homer. Yastrzemski's smash followed a pass to Jim Rice in the third. Rice batted in what proved to be the deciding run with a single in the fifth and Butch Hobson accounted for an insurance pair with a double in the seventh to put the Red Sox ahead, 9-2. The Rangers were unable to overcome that deficit although knocking out Mike Torrez during a three-run rally in the eighth.

White Sox 6, Brewers 1 at Chicago (night game):
While Chet Lemon and Jim Morrison took care of the White Sox scoring, Steve Trout pitched a five-hitter and beat the Brewers, 6-1. Lemon hit a three-run homer in the first inning and added a solo swat in the third. Morrison accounted for two other RBIs with a homer in the second and sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Angels 9, Indians 8 at Cleveland (night game):
After one day out of first place, the Angels snapped a five-game losing streak and regained the top spot in the West division by defeating the Indians, 9-8. The Indians grabbed a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning, but the Angels narrowed their deficit to 4-3 before exploding for five runs on three homers in the eighth. Willie Aikens and Bobby Grich each connected with a man on base and Jim Anderson added a solo shot. The Indians rallied for four runs to tie the score in their half, but Don Baylor singled for the Angels in the ninth, Aikens walked and Brian Downing singled to drive in the winning run. In the Indians' half, Rick Manning led off with a single. John Montague, purchased from the Mariners, then saved the game by inducing Bobby Bonds to hit into a double play and getting Toby Harrah on a grounder for the final out.

A's 5, Tigers 3 at Detroit (night game):
With the help of Dave Hamilton, who struck out the last two batters in the ninth inning, Brian Kingman gained a victory when the A's stopped the Tigers' six-game winning streak, 5-3. Dave Revering batted in the A's first two runs with a double and single. Jason Thompson homered for the Tigers. With the Tigers leading, 3-2, Mario Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score in the fifth and the A's go-ahead run followed in the sixth when Rickey Henderson grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. Rob Picciolo iced the verdict with a homer in the eighth.

Yankees 7, Royals 3 at New York (night game):
Reggie Jackson drove in four runs, including two with a homer, and Tommy John gained his 18th victory of the season as the Yankees defeated the Royals, 7-3. The Yankees jumped on Paul Splittorff for three runs in the first inning. Willie Randolph walked, stole second, advanced to third on a bunt by Bobby Murcer and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Lou Piniella. George Scott singled and Jackson followed with his homer. The Yankees then clinched the decision with three more runs in the fifth. Murcer and Piniella singled. Scott doubled for one run and Jackson singled to drive in two others. The defeat dropped the Royals out of first place in the West division.

Blue Jays 5, Mariners 4 at Toronto (day game):
After John Mayberry drove in the Blue Jays' first four runs, Craig Kusick homered in the 11th inning to beat the Mariners, 5-4. The Mariners scored three runs in the fourth inning on walks, a triple by Dan Meyer and sacrifice fly by Joe Simpson, but the Blue Jays came back with a three-run homer by Mayberry in their half. The Mariners regained the lead in the sixth, but the Blue Jays forced the game into overtime in the eighth when Bob Bailor singled, Al Woods sacrificed and Mayberry singled for his fourth RBI.

Phillies 6, Braves 2 at Atlanta (night game):
Playing for the first time under Dallas Green, who was named interim manager when Danny Ozark was fired, the Phillies defeated the Braves, 6-2, in a game that was stopped by rain after one out in the Atlanta half of the sixth inning. Mike Schmidt smashed his 41st homer of the season for the Phillies, connecting with a man on base in the third inning, and drove in another run with a single in the fifth. Dale Murphy accounted for the Braves' pair with a circuit clout. Doug Bird, who pitched a five-hitter in his first start of the season for the Phillies, turned in his first complete game since 1976 when the righthander was with the Royals.

Astros 2, Mets 0 at Houston (night game):
Ken Forsch, Randy Niemann and Joe Sambito combined on a three-hitter and the Astros, who also were held to three hits by Craig Swan, scored two unearned runs on errors by right fielder Dan Norman to defeat the Mets, 2-0. Forsch, who had been sidelined by a sore shoulder, made his first appearance since August 7. After retiring Joel Youngblood to start the game and giving up a single by Frank Taveras, Forsch set down the next 14 batters before leaving the mound. The Astros scored their initial run in the second inning when Jeff Leonard doubled and Norman dropped a two-out fly by Bruce Bochy. Forsch walked in the third, reached third when Norman drew his second error for mishandling a single by Cesar Cedeno, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Craig Reynolds.

Dodgers 6, Cubs 4 at Los Angeles (night game):
The Dodgers smashed four homers, giving them a total of 18 in their last 11 games, but still needed two runs on bunts by Johnny Oates and Rick Sutcliffe to defeat the Cubs, 6-4. Derrel Thomas hit two homers and Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey rapped one apiece, all with the bases empty. In the seventh inning, Mickey Hatcher singled and raced to third on a safety by Thomas. Thomas advanced to second on the throw to third. Oates laid down a squeeze bunt to score Hatcher and Sutcliffe followed with another bunt to allow Thomas to score. The Cubs scored on a homer by Scot Thompson in the seventh and added three runs in the ninth before their rally ended.

Expos 8, Reds 7 at Montreal (night game):
Rodney Scott, who reported with a bad cold, sat out the start of the game for the Expos but then came off the bench and delivered a single in the 10th inning to beat the Reds, 8-7. A two-run homer by Andre Dawson helped the Expos take a 4-3 lead, but the Reds came back with two runs in the sixth and another pair in the seventh. Warren Cromartie homered in the Expos' half of the seventh. The Expos then rallied to tie the score in the ninth when Dave Cash doubled, Dawson tripled and Gary Carter hit a sacrifice fly. In the 10th, Larry Parrish doubled. Jim Mason bunted but was called out for running outside the base line, forcing Parrish to return to second. Scott then batted for Woodie Fryman and hit his single to put a stop to the Reds' eight-game winning streak.

Cardinals 8, Padres 7 at San Diego (night game):
Keith Hernandez, the league's leading batter, doubled in the 15th inning and drove in Jerry Mumphrey from first base to bring the Cardinals an 8-7 victory over the Padres. Dave Winfield hit a three-run homer for the Padres in the first inning but the Cards battled their way to a 6-3 lead before the Padres came back with a run in the fourth and the tying pair in the fifth. The Cards forged ahead in the 10th on a pinch-double by Lou Brock, but the Padres loaded the bases in their half and kept the game going with a sacrifice fly by Paul Dade. When Mumphrey singled and Hernandez doubled in the 15th, the run enabled Dan O'Brien to gain his first major league victory.

Pirates 6, Giants 4 at San Francisco (night game):
A four-run outburst in the second inning started the Pirates off to a 6-4 victory over the Giants. Bill Madlock drew a walk to open the stanza, John Milner singled and Phil Garner was safe on an error by Mike Ivie but got credit for an RBI when Madlock scored. Steve Nicosia singled to drive in Milner. After a pass to Don Robinson, Omar Moreno singled to score Garner and Nicosia. The Pirates added what proved to be their deciding run in the fifth on passes to Don Robinson and Moreno, a sacrifice by pinch-hitter Rennie Stennett and sacrifice fly by Bill Robinson. Ivie and Roger Metzger each drove in two of the Giants' runs.