Pittsburgh’s Rennie Stennett hit a walk-off sacrifice fly as the Pirates came back to beat St. Louis 4-3.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, Richie Hebner began the rally with a homer off Cardinals starter Ron Reed to tie the contest.
Frank Taveras followed with a single off reliever John Curtis, who had just entered the game.
After Tavares swiped second, he moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Art Howe to set up Stennett’s fly ball to Bake McBride in centerfield that was deep enough to produce the winning run.
Dave Giusti picked up the win for the Pirates with two perfect innings in relief of starter Jerry Reuss.
Al Oliver knocked in the first run of the game for Pittsburgh with a single in the third. Taveras added a RBI single in the fourth as the Pirates were on top 2-0.
Lou Brock got the Cardinals on the scoreboard with a RBI single in the fifth.
In the seventh, back-to-back run-scoring singles by McBride and Ted Simmons put the Cardinals in the lead at 3-2.
Brock led St. Louis with three hits and four stolen bases.
Expos Rally for Victory
Montreal overcame a four-run deficit as the Expos went on to a 6-5 victory over Philadelphia.
Garry Maddox had a RBI single in the bottom of the second, while Mike Schmidt blasted a three-run homer to give the Phillies their early advantage.
The Expos began to chip away at Philadelphia starter Steve Carlton with Tim Foli‘s sacrifice fly in the third.
One inning later, Larry Parrish banged a two-run homer. In the sixth, Mike Jorgensen tied the affair with a RBI single.
Pete Mackanin showed some muscle with solo homers in the seventh and ninth to put Montreal ahead 6-4.
Philadelphia staged a rally against Expos starter Dan Warthen in the bottom of the ninth, after he held the Phillies without a hit from the third to the eighth frame. Maddox knocked in a run before Fred Scherman retired the final two batters to earn a save.
National League East Results and Schedule
(1) Pirates 4, (4) Cardinals 3
(6) Expos 6, (2) Phillies 5
(6) Expos at (1) Pirates, championship
IN REAL LIFE:
Rennie Stennett helped Pittsburgh to the National League East title in 1975 as he batted .268 with seven homers and 62 RBI.
Stennett joined National Baseball Hall of Fame member Wilbert Robinson and Cesar Gutierrez as the only players to record seven hits in a game as the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 22-0 at Wrigley Field on Sept. 16. Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants became the fourth player to accomplish the feat in 2016.
Stennett played for the Pirates from 1971 to 1979 also playing in the post-season in 1972 and 1974 before being a member of the World Series champs in his last season in Pittsburgh.
A .274 lifetime hitter, he finished his career in San Francisco in 1980-81.