Category: This Day In Baseball

2005 – Houston drills Colorado, 7-1, as Roy Oswalt wins his 10th of the year. Morgan Ensberg blasts his 20th homer and Jason Lane belts his 13th. But the day’s headline belongs to Craig Biggio who is hit in the elbow by Byung-Hyun Kim to claim the modern day career record for being hit by a pitch. It’s his 268th plunking, passing Don Baylor. He’s third on the all-time list. Biggio thanks the Rockies with a solo homer his next time up. 

1992 – Benny Distefano smacks a pinch-hit three run triple off Rob Dibble in the bottom of the eighth to stun the Reds, 4-3. Al Osuna gets the gift victory. 

1986 – Houston regains first place in a 2-1 nailbiter over Fernando Valenzuela and the Dodgers. Craig Shipley and Alex Trevino team up for the only Dodger run but they give it back in the seventh when a bad throw by Shipley puts Phil Garner aboard then a dropped third strike by Trevino puts Glenn Davis on base. Kevin Bass drives in Garner then Jose Cruz dribbles a 20-foot roller that Valenzuela must eat while the winning run scores. 

1979 – The Astros witness the re-hatching of the famous San Diego Chicken before a 4-1 victory. Heavy traffic delays the game for a half-hour before Ted Giannoulas breaks out of a five-foot egg to thunderous cheers. Unimpressed, Terry Puhl bashes Gaylord Perry’s first pitch for a homer and Houston gets the last cluck.

1996 – John Cangelosi is the sparkplug in a 9-3 triumph over the Mets. He gets two hits, walks twice, drives in three and steals three bases to pace the Houston attack. Everyone in the lineup gets at least one hit, including Darryl Kile who notches his seventh win in a complete-game performance. 

2002 – Pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun blasts a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth off Byung-Hyun Kim to stun the Diamondbacks, 7-4. Octavio Dotel is the surprise winner. Lance Berkman and Brad Ausmus also go deep. 

1987 – Kevin Bass becomes the first Astro to collect four extra-base hits in a game. He gets a “cycle plus one”, legging out his second double for his final hit of the game after earlier hitting a homer and a triple. Houston wins, 6-5, over the Giants as Larry Andersensaves it for Jim Deshaies. 

1969 – Orlando “Marty” Martinez, a utility man picked up in an off-season trade with Atlanta, drives home Curt Blefary in the ninth inning for a 5-4 triumph over the Braves. It is the Astros’ tenth straight win, the second time they’ve reached that plateau that season.

1992 – A morning earthquake shakes the Astros before an 8-2 loss in Los Angeles. Willie Blair is rattled for five runs early. Ken Caminiti is one of the few Astros focused as he pounds out four hits. 

1983 – Dickie Thon swats two home runs to carry Houston to a 4-2 victory over Atlanta. He hits a solo shot off Craig McMurtry then a two-run blast off Terry Forster to give the Astros the cushion they need. 

1974 – Doug Rader is roasted in San Diego during “Short Order Cooks Night”. Earlier in the year, Padres owner and McDonald’s magnate Ray Kroc gave the fans a Quarter-Pounder of his mind when he seized the PA system to publicly grill his players. Rader said, “He can’t treat us like a bunch of cooks”. Doug gets the last chance, trailing 5-4 with two outs in the ninth. He flies out to John Grubb as Houston’s hopes melt in defeat. 

1966 – Joe Morgan becomes the first Astro named to start in an All-Star Game. Unfortunately, Morgan had broken his kneecap three days earlier and is unable to play. He was hitting .319 at the time of his injury. On the field, Houston loses at Pittsburgh, 4-3, but remain a surprising fourth in the National League race.

2014 – Jose Altuve smacks three hits and steals two bases in a 6-4 victory against Detroit. Matt Dominguez and Carlos Corporan also contribute three hits apiece. Altuve becomes the first big leaguer to swipe more than one base in four consecutive games since the ill-fated Ray Chapman did it in 1917. 

2008 – Astros release pitcher Shawn Chacon a day after he grabbed General Manager Ed Wade by the throat and threw him to the floor in a pre-game altercation. Chacon had become increasingly defiant after getting yanked in the first inning of a start in Milwaukee then later getting dropped from the starting rotation. On the field, the news was better in a 7-2 win over the Texas Rangers but a sour month had left the club in fifth place, five games below .500 at 37-42. 

1995 – Orlando Miller smacks a three-run shot and drives in five as Houston buries the Cardinals, 11-0. Greg Swindell hurls the complete game shutout, coasting to victory after his teammates tally ten runs in the first two frames. Luis Gonzalez adds three hits and drives in three. 

1988 – Catcher Craig Biggio makes his major league debut in a 6-0 whitewash of San Francisco. He walks in the fourth and scores the game’s final run after stealing second. Houston does all its damage on just three hits, aided by six walks. Jim Deshaies and Larry Andersen combine to blank the Giants on seven hits. Biggio will get his first hit three days later against Dodger ace Orel Hershiser. 

1986 – Glenn Davis slugs a two-run shot off Ted Power in the bottom of the ninth to shock the Reds, 7-6. Davis had earlier singled home a run. Larry Andersen is the winning pitcher without officially facing a batter. He tags out Buddy Bell at the plate after tossing a wild pitch that ends a ninth-inning Cincinnati threat. 

1972 – The first five Astro hits in San Diego are all homers – two solo shots by Doug Rader , two-run blasts by Jim Wynn and Cesar Cedeno and a round-tripper by Lee May which ties a club record. All that does is create a 7-7 tie. Wynn doubles home Cedeno in the seventh and Houston tallies six more times for a 14-7 victory. Cedeno has three hits and four RBIs. George Culver pitches 7-1/3rd innings of relief for the win.