Category: This Day In Baseball

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.

1977 – Bob Watson belts a three-run triple off San Francisco’s Bob Knepper in the first inning. He then doubles and hits a solo homer. In the eighth, he singles home Cesar Cedeno to become the second Astro to hit for the cycle. Watson has five RBIs in a 5-5 tie. Jose Cruz doubles home Wilbur Howard in the 11th for the 6-5 victory.

2006 – Adam Everett’s bloop triple in the 13th inning followed by Willy Taveras’ RBI single salvage a 10-9 win over the Chicago White Sox, avoiding their second series sweep at the hands of the American League champs in a span of nine months. The Astros were coasting with a 9-2 lead behind Roy Oswalt going into the bottom of the eighth when one man led the Sox back. Tadahito Igushi belts a three run shot off Russ Springer then tags Brad Lidge for a grand slam the next inning – the third slam off Houston pitching in three days – to tie it up. Fernando Nieve gets the win. Despite a dreadful month and a .500 record, the Astros are only five games back of St. Louis and three games back of Cincinnati in the division chase. 

1995 – Houston erupts for a team-record 19 runs, destroying the Cubs in a 19-6 laugher at the Dome. You might expect Jeff Bagwell to be at the center of this and he is, driving in five including a three-run blast in the seventh. But John Cangelosi? The 5-7 mite takes Bryan Hickerson deep in the eighth as the Astros pour it on with nine runs in their final time up. 

1971 – Talk about getting back at your boss! Backup catcher Jack Hiatt singles home Doug Rader with the winning run as Houston takes a 5-4 victory over Gaylord Perry and the Giants. Hiatt, who was traded from San Francisco the year before, still held a winter job in the Giants’ sales office at the time. 

1966 – A batting-practice line-drive by Lee Maye strikes Joe Morgan, breaking his kneecap and forcing him to miss 40 games as well as an All-Star appearance. Morgan’s replacement, Bob Lillis scores the winning run in a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals. Mike Cuellar fans 15 Redbirds in the win. 

1965 – The Astros pass the one million mark in attendance for the first time during a 6-2 victory over the Mets. A two-run triple by Joe Morgan highlights the scoring. Larry Dierker outpitches Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn who is a quarter-century older than the 18-year-old righthander.

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.  

1975 – Bob Watson’s three-run homer off Burt Hooton caps a six-run outburst against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Wayne Granger pitches the final 2-2/3rds innings to save the 6-5 victory. Granger picks off Ron Cey at third base in order to preserve the win. 

1968 – Dave Giusti gives up first-inning singles to Chicago’s Don Kessinger and Glenn Beckert then goes the rest of the game without allowing a hit for a 2-1 triumph. He also provides the game-winner, singling in Bob Watson. Jim Wynn’s solo homer off Bill Hands is the other Houston run.

1973 – Tommy Helms goes 4-for-5 to spark a 6-3 victory over the Giants. Jerry Reuss takes the win and singles home Helms with the eventual game-winner. Rafael Batista gets his first big league hit.

2018 – Alex Bregman swats a two-run walk-off homer in the ninth to shock Toronto, 7-6, in an afternoon contest at Minute Maid Park. Bregman added two doubles and, after a four-hit night the previous game, had compiled seven extra-base hits within the span of 24 hours – two homers and five doubles. Evan Gattis drove in three to set the franchise mark for most RBIs in June with 30. Houston leads Seattle by 3-1/2 games in the AL West. 

2007 – Craig Biggio legs out the 658th double of his career, most of any righthanded batter in major league history. More importantly, it plates Morgan Ensberg in the 10th for the winning run in a wild 12-9 slugfest against the Texas Rangers. Arlington’s own Hunter Pence goes 4-for-6 with a homer and a double. Lance Berkman also goes deep and drives in four. The offense is necessary after Dan Wheeler blows a four-run lead in the eighth and a two-run lead in the ninth before getting credit for the win. 

2003 – Infielder Dave Matranga homers in his first big league at bat  as part of a four-homer assault, but it isn’t enough as the Texas Rangers stop the Astros, 10-7, at Minute Maid Park. Lance Berkman, Morgan Ensberg and Jeff Bagwell also go yard but the bullpen isn’t up to the task of replacing rookie starter Rodrigo Rosario after he leaves with a shoulder strain in the second inning. 

2004 – Roger Clemens becomes the majors’ first ten-game winner by nipping the Pirates, 3-2, but the buzz is about a three-way trade with Kansas City and Oakland that brings All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran to Houston for closer Octavio Dotel, minor league catcher John Buck and cash. The Astros greet Beltran in fourth place in the Central Division, just four games over .500 and five games behind St. Louis in the standings. 

1994 – Jeff Bagwell slams two home runs in one inning and three in the game as Houston mauls the Dodgers, 16-4. Bagwell’s blasts are the alpha and omega of a nine-run sixth inning. His four hits and six RBIs spark a 17-hit attack. Shane Reynolds is the easy winner.