Regular season
Summary
April
- Opening Day starting lineup [2] [3]
| 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] The gala featured celebrities, events and guests. Micky Mantle, who hit the first-ever home run at Astrodome during an exhibition game with the New York Yankees on same date in 1965, was honored. Sprinter Carl Lewis tossed the ceremonial first pitch. One "guest" not invited onto the field was Morganna, dubbed "The Kissing Bandit," who leapt over the wall during the first inning and ran to the mound to plant a kiss on the cheek of Ryan. [5]
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. [6]
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. [7] 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. [8]
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. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11]
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. [12]
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. [12]
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. [12] 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. [12]
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. [12]
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. [12]
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. [12]
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. [13]
In the 12th inning, Thon singled, and advanced on Smith's sacrifice hit. [13] Doran followed with his fifth hit of the game to drive home Thon for a 4–3 Astros walk-off triumph. [11] The five-hit game was the second of Doran's career, [14] and the first by an Astro on the season. With that hit, Doran had collected eight hits in ten at bats. [12]
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. [12]
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. [15] 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. [16]
On July 27, the Astros lost to the Mets, 16–4, despite not allowing a single earned run in the game. [17]
On July 31, Mike Scott connected for his first major league home run while batting. The shot was off Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds during the top of the fifth inning at Riverfront Stadium. [18] On the mound, the Reds swatted 10 hits off the righty but Scott (10–5) limited the damage to two runs over seven frames to lead a 9–2 Houston victory. Rookie first baseman Glenn Davis paced the offense with his eighth home run of the year and drove in four. Catcher John Mizerock's first double cleared the bases in the top of sixth for Houston. [19]
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, [11] representing a club-high in runs scored for the season. [20] 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, [11] 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. [21]
September—October
From September 11–19, Houston posted a season-high nine-game winning streak. [20]
José Cruz reached the 2,000 career hits plateau on September 15, [4] [22] to become the first player to do so in Astros' uniform. [23] His 1,702nd safety with Houston, Cruz' first 298 arrived as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. [24] The milestone hit, a single during the fourth inning off LaMarr Hoyt, drove home Denny Walling to tie the score, 1–1. In the bottom of the eighth, Glenn Davis cranked a tie-breaking home run which provided the margin in a 2–1 Astros triumph over the San Diego Padres. [25] Davis' home run, his 15th, actuated another milestone that broke the club record for home runs by a rookie, set by Joe Morgan in 1965. [22]
Meanwhile, on September 15, in a deal with the New York Yankees, the Astros swapped veteran right-hander Joe Niekro for rookie southpaw Jim Deshaies. [11]
On October 5, catcher Alan Ashby slugged his second career grand slam, and first in an Astros uniform. [26] His drive came off Ed Wojna of the 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. [27] This was a 15th consecutive season Ryan had attained double-figures in victories. [28]
Performance overview
First baseman Glenn Davis established a club record for rookies by hitting 20 home runs, doing so over 100 games played. [a] [22] [29] [30] Davis led the Astros in home runs though he ranked ninth in total appearances. [31]
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: | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. [32]
- June 12, 1985: Brad Gulden was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Cincinnati Reds. [33]
- 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. [34]
Roster
| 1985 Houston Astros | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
| Catchers
Infielders
| Outfielders
| Manager Coaches
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