1985 Houston Astros season

1985 Houston Astros
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)

Last updated September 18, 2025

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.

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

On April 5, 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

On July 11, Ryan's fanned Danny Heep of the New York Mets for the 4,000th of his career. Ryan became the first pitcher in major league history to reach this milestone.^[2]

On July 27, the Astros lost to the Mets, 16–4, despite not allowing a single earned run in the game.^[7]

José Cruz reached the 2,000 career hits plateau on September 15.^[2]

Season standings

v
t
e
NL West
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

1985 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MTL	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.^[8]
June 12, 1985: Brad Gulden was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Cincinnati Reds.^[9]
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.^[10]

Roster

1985 Houston Astros

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

5 Bob Lillis

Coaches

2 Cot Deal (Outfield/Defensive Coordinator)
48 Matt Galante
43 Don Leppert
15 Denis Menke
54 Jerry Walker

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