1985 Houston Astros season
| 1985 Houston Astros | |
|---|---|
| League | National League |
| Division | West |
| Ballpark | The Astrodome |
| City | Houston, Texas |
| Record | 83–79 (.512) |
| Divisional place | 3rd—tied |
| Owners | John McMullen |
| General managers | Al Rosen Dick Wagner |
| Managers | Bob Lillis |
| Television | KTXH HSE |
| Radio | KTRH (Gene Elston, Milo Hamilton, Larry Dierker, Jim Durham, Jerry Trupiano) |
The 1985 Houston Astros season was the 24th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 21st as the Astros, 24th in the National League (NL), 17th in the NL West division, and 21st at the Astrodome. The Astros entered the season as having tied for second place in the NL West with an 80–82 record and 12 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning San Diego Padres.
On April 5, Nolan Ryan made his second Opening Day start for Houston, who hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers and won, 2–1. In the amateur draft, Houston's first round selection was outfielder Cameron Drew at 12th overall. On July 11, Ryan became the first pitcher to reach 4,000 career strikeouts.
Left fielder José Cruz and Ryan each represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game and played for the National League. This was the second career selection for Cruz and seventh for Ryan. Cruz recorded his 2,000th career hit on September 15.
In September, Dick Wagner became the ninth general manager in franchise history, replacing Al Rosen.
The Astros concluded the season with an 83–79 record, tying for third place with San Diego in the NL West, and 12 games behind Los Angeles, the division-winners.
Offseason
- December 3, 1984: Manuel Lee was drafted from the Astros by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1984 rule 5 draft.[1]
Regular season
Summary
April
| 10 | Dickie Thon | SS |
| 23 | Enos Cabell | 1B |
| 3 | Phil Garner | 3B |
| 25 | José Cruz | LF |
| 28 | Jerry Mumphrey | CF |
| 21 | Terry Puhl | RF |
| 14 | Alan Ashby | C |
| 19 | Bill Doran | 2B |
| 34 | Nolan Ryan | P |
| Venue: | Astrodome • HOU 2, | LAD 1 |
On April 9, Houston celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Opening of the Astrodome, where they hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers and won, 2–1, in front of a crowd of 42,876. Nolan Ryan made his second Opening Day start for Houston.[4]
May
Astros infielder Jim Pankovits posted a career day on May 19, leading a 7–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. He collected up four hits, including a home run and two doubles.[5]
On May 29, Pankovits broke 3-all tie by crushing a grand slam in the seventh versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. Starter Nolan Ryan got the win, locking down a 7–3 decision for the Houston Astros.[6] Each Astros starter had at least one hit, save for Terry Puhl. Denny Walling and Phil Garner both doubled. Ryan struck out eight over seven innings.[7]
June
On June 9, Joe Niekro was the winning pitcher after tossing a two-hit shutout versus the San Francisco Giants. The 138th of his career, Niekro took over the lead in franchise history. In spite of the strong effort against the Giants, he had failed in six previous attempts to secure this win.[8]
July
Nolan Ryan surrendered the only walk-off home run of his career on July 1 at Jack Murphy Stadium. Pitching into extra innings for the first time as Astro with a 5–5 score, former Astros catcher Bruce Bochy hit the game-winner in the 10th inning, also his first career walk-off home run.[9]
Kevin Bass launched two solo home runs on July 5 to pace a 4–2 victory over the Montreal Expos. José Cruz drove home the other two runs to establish a new franchise record for runs batted in (783 RBI), later broken by Jeff Bagwell.[10]
Nolan Ryan's 4,000th strikeout
On July 11, Ryan fanned Danny Heep of the New York Mets in the top of the sixth inning for the 4,000th of his career. Ryan became the first pitcher in major league history to reach this milestone.[4] He struck out 11 Mets in the outing before an Astrodome crowd of 30,921. The Astros won it, 4–3, in 12 innings on Bill Doran's fifth hit of the contest and walk-off single to score Dickie Thon.[11]
In the top of the fifth, Ryan froze Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter on called punchouts for the final two outs of the frame, ticking his total up to 3,999. The moment prompted chants of "Ryan... Ryan... Ryan" from the fans.[11]
In the bottom of the sixth, Bass homered to give Houston a 3–1 advantage. However, in the seventh, the Mets, benefiting from Astros' defensive miscues, parlayed that into two unearned runs, eventually sending the contest into extra innings.[11] Center fielder Ty Gainey made a long sprint for a Lenny Dykstra fly ball only to drop that for a two-base error. Keith Hernandez bounced a grounder to Ryan, but Ryan lost the battle in a rundown with Dykstra, who took third, while Hernandez glided into second on the play. Strawberry then smacked a sacrifice fly and Carter followed with a run-scoring single to tie the contest, 3–3.[11]
In the second inning, Ryan executed his trademark by whiffing Sid Fernandez and Rafael Santana. Carter and Heep followed with singles, and a wild pitch advanced both baserunners, presenting a chance for things to spiral. A bloop double by Howard Johnson plated New York's first run. Dykstra bounded out to second to stay the threat.[11]
Wildness returned for Ryan in the third, who walked the bases loaded via Fernandez, Strawberry and Carter. This time, he found a more expedient escape when Heep grounded into a double play.[11]
In the fourth, Ryan fanned Fernandez for the 3.997th of his career. In the bottom of the frame, Phil Garner singled and Glenn Davis also singled to score Garner and extend a hitting streak to six games.[11]
Dickie Thon batted to a 7-for-14 hike spanning his previous three games. Dave Smith (5–3) tossed the final three innings, all scoreless, to pick up the victory.[12]
In the 12th inning, Thon singled, and advanced on Smith's sacrifice hit.[12] Doran followed with his fifth hit of the game to drive home Thon for a 4–3 Astros walk-off triumph.[10] The five-hit game was the second of Doran's career,[13] and the first by an Astro on the season. With that hit, Doran had collected eight hits in ten at bats.[11]
Ryan's 11 strikeouts represented a season high, putting him 96 ahead of Steve Carlton, who was on the disabled list (DL) at the time due to a rotator cuff strain.[11]
Rest of July
The Astros played to an eventful series against the Mets at Shea Stadium. On July 25, rookie slugger Glenn Davis smashed the only inside-the-park home run of his major league career, off Dwight Gooden in the top of the seventh.[14] Gooden (15–3), in spite of yielding another bomb to catcher Mark Bailey polished off a masterful complete game performance which led New York to a 6–3 win. Errors by Baily and Jerry Mumphrey cost the Astros of a different outcome. Upstart Mike Scott fell to 9–5. He yielded five runs in six innings, with two being earned. Scott's earned run average (ERA) stood at 2.80.[15]
On July 27, the Astros lost to the Mets, 16–4, despite not allowing a single earned run in the game.[16]
August
The Astros romped on the Cardinals on August 20, 17–2, at the Astrodome to the backdrop of a screening of Jaws on the Diamond Vision scoreboard,[10] representing a club-high in runs scored for the season.[17] Catcher Mark Bailey launched a grand slam while Dickie Thon added a triple, home run and 4 RBI to lead the 19-hit charge. Bailey, Glenn Davis and Terry Puhl collected three hits each,[10] while both Bailey and Davis scored four runs. The Astros scored in each of the first six frames. Mike Scott (13–6) surrendered just three hits and two runs to cruise to victory.[18]
September—October
From September 11–19, Houston posted a season-high nine-game winning streak.[17]
José Cruz reached the 2,000 career hits plateau on September 15.[4][19]
On October 5, catcher Alan Ashby slugged his second career grand slam, and first in an Astros uniform.[20] His drive came off Ed Wojna of the San Diego Padres in the top of the second to break a scoreless tie and cap a 9–3 Astros win. Each starter except leadoff hitter Bill Doran logged at least one hit, including pitcher Nolan Ryan, with two. José Cruz doubled and homered. Phil Garner had three hits and three runs scored. Ryan (10–12) cruised over 7 innings with seven hits, two runs allowed, and eight strikeouts to earn his 10th win on the penultimate day of the regular season.[21] This was a 15th consecutive season Ryan had attained double-figures in victories.[22]
Performance overview
First baseman Glenn Davis established a club record for rookies by hitting 20 home runs, doing so over 100 games played.[a][23][24] Davis led the Astros in home runs though he ranked ninth in total appearances.[25]
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 48–33 | 47–34 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 89 | 72 | .553 | 5½ | 47–34 | 42–38 |
| Houston Astros | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 44–37 | 39–42 |
| San Diego Padres | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 44–37 | 39–42 |
| Atlanta Braves | 66 | 96 | .407 | 29 | 32–49 | 34–47 |
| San Francisco Giants | 62 | 100 | .383 | 33 | 38–43 | 24–57 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | |||||
| Atlanta | — | 5–7 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 3–9 | |||||
| Chicago | 7–5 | — | 5–6 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 13–5 | 13–5 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–14 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 11–7 | 6–5 | — | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 5–7 | |||||
| Houston | 10–8 | 7–5 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 12–6 | 15–3 | 6–6 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 13–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 12–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 7–5 | |||||
| Montreal | 9–3 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 11–7 | |||||
| New York | 10–2 | 14–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–9 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–10 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 2-10 | 5–13 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 7–11 | — | 11–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 5–13 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 4–8 | 3–9 | 3–15 | |||||
| San Diego | 11–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | — | 12–6 | 4–8 | |||||
| San Francisco | 8–10 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 3–15 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 6–12 | — | 2–10 | |||||
| St. Louis | 9–3 | 14–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 15–3 | 8–4 | 10–2 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- June 3, 1985: Mike Simms was drafted by the Astros in the 6th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.[26]
- June 12, 1985: Brad Gulden was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Cincinnati Reds.[27]
- September 15, 1985: Joe Niekro was traded by the Astros to the New York Yankees for Jim Deshaies and players to be named later. The New York Yankees completed the deal by sending Neder Horta (minors) to the Astros on September 24 and Dody Rather (minors) to the Astros on January 11, 1986.[28]
Roster
| 1985 Houston Astros | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Mark Bailey | 114 | 332 | 88 | .265 | 10 | 45 |
| 1B | Glenn Davis | 100 | 350 | 95 | .271 | 20 | 64 |
| 2B | Bill Doran | 148 | 578 | 166 | .287 | 14 | 59 |
| SS | Craig Reynolds | 107 | 379 | 103 | .272 | 4 | 32 |
| 3B | Phil Garner | 135 | 463 | 124 | .268 | 6 | 51 |
| LF | José Cruz | 141 | 544 | 163 | .300 | 9 | 79 |
| CF | Kevin Bass | 150 | 539 | 145 | .269 | 16 | 68 |
| RF | Jerry Mumphrey | 130 | 444 | 123 | .277 | 8 | 61 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denny Walling | 119 | 345 | 93 | .270 | 7 | 45 |
| Dickie Thon | 84 | 251 | 63 | .251 | 6 | 29 |
| Terry Puhl | 57 | 194 | 55 | .284 | 2 | 23 |
| Alan Ashby | 65 | 189 | 53 | .280 | 8 | 25 |
| Jim Pankovits | 75 | 172 | 42 | .244 | 4 | 14 |
| Enos Cabell | 60 | 143 | 35 | .245 | 2 | 14 |
| Harry Spilman | 44 | 66 | 9 | .136 | 1 | 4 |
| Tim Tolman | 31 | 43 | 6 | .140 | 2 | 8 |
| John Mizerock | 15 | 38 | 9 | .237 | 0 | 6 |
| Ty Gainey | 13 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 0 | 0 |
| Germán Rivera | 13 | 36 | 7 | .194 | 0 | 2 |
| Bert Peña | 20 | 29 | 8 | .276 | 0 | 4 |
| Chris Jones | 31 | 25 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Eric Bullock | 18 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 0 | 2 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Knepper | 37 | 241.0 | 15 | 13 | 3.55 | 131 |
| Nolan Ryan | 35 | 232.0 | 10 | 12 | 3.80 | 209 |
| Mike Scott | 36 | 221.2 | 18 | 8 | 3.29 | 137 |
| Joe Niekro | 32 | 213.0 | 9 | 12 | 3.72 | 117 |
| Mark Knudson | 2 | 11.0 | 0 | 2 | 9.00 | 4 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Mathis | 23 | 70.0 | 3 | 5 | 6.04 | 34 |
| Jeff Heathcock | 14 | 56.1 | 3 | 1 | 3.36 | 25 |
| Charlie Kerfeld | 11 | 44.1 | 4 | 2 | 4.06 | 30 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Smith | 64 | 9 | 5 | 27 | 2.27 | 40 |
| Frank DiPino | 54 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 4.03 | 49 |
| Bill Dawley | 49 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3.56 | 48 |
| Jeff Calhoun | 44 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2.54 | 47 |
| Julio Solano | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.48 | 17 |
| Mike Madden | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.26 | 16 |
| Mark Ross | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.85 | 3 |
| Jim Deshaies | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
Awards and achievements
Grand slams
| No. | Date | Astros batter | Venue | Inning | Pitcher | Opposing team | Box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 29 | Jim Pankovits | Astrodome | 7₰ | John Candelaria | Pittsburgh Pirates | [7] |
| 2 | August 20 | Mark Bailey | Astrodome | 3 | Ricky Horton | St. Louis Cardinals | [18] |
| 3 | October 5 | Alan Ashby | Jack Murphy Stadium | 2₰ | Ed Wojna | San Diego Padres | [21] |
| ₰—Tied score or took lead |
Awards
- Fred Hartman Long and Meritorious Service to Baseball:[b][29] Donald Davidson
- Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award:[29] Bill Doran
- MLB All-Star Game:
- Reserve outfielder—José Cruz
- Reserve pitcher—Nolan Ryan
- Topps All-Star Rookie Team—First baseman: Glenn Davis
League leaders
- NL pitching leaders
- Wild pitches: Joe Niekro (21—led MLB)
Minor league system
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
References
- Footnotes
- ^ Davis' record stood until it was surpassed by Lance Berkman, who hit 21 home runs during the 2000 season.
- ^ Premier year for this award.
- Sources
- ^ "Manuel Lee stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
- ^ "Los Angeles Dodgers (1) vs Houston Astros (2) box score". Baseball Almanac. April 9, 1985. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ "1985 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Astros history – Timeline". MLB.com. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 19, 2025). "Today in Astros history—May 18–19". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 29, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 29". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
- ^ a b "Pittsburgh Pirats (3) vs Houston Astros (8) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. May 29, 1985. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 9, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 9". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
- ^ O'Neill, Shawn (July 5, 2025). "Nolan Ryan allowed one walk-off HR: This legendary manager hit it". MLB.com. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
- ^ a b c d Hulsey, Bob. "This date in Astros history". Astros Daily. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i McLemore, Ivy (July 11, 1985). "Ryan strikes out 11, sails past 4000". Houston Post. Retrieved November 28, 2025 – via Astros Daily.
- ^ a b Hohfeld, Neil (July 11, 1985). "Ryan hits milestone as Astros top Mets". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ^ "Top performances for Bill Doran". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ^ "Glenn Davis career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ^ "Houston Astros (3) vs New York Mets (6) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. July 25, 1985. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ^ "Houston Astros at New York Mets box score and play by play". Baseball-Reference.com. July 27, 1985. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
- ^ a b "1985 Houston Astros schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ^ a b "St. Louis Cardinals (2) vs Houston Astros (17) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. August 26, 1980. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ^ Greene, Nelson "Chip" (October 1, 2018). "September 15, 1985: José Cruz collects his 2,000th hit". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Retrieved November 4, 2025.
- ^ "Alan Ashby career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ^ a b "Houston Astros (9) vs San Diego Padres (3) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. October 5, 1985. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ^ "Nolan Ryan stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ^ "Player profile—Glenn Davis". Astros Daily. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
- ^ McTaggart, Brian (October 2, 2015). "Astros, Correa enjoy record-setting night". MLB.com. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
- ^ "1985 Houston Astros statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
- ^ "Mike Simms stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
- ^ "Brad Gulden stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ Jim Deshaies at Baseball Reference
- ^ a b McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2025.