1985 Houston Astros season

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1985 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkThe Astrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record83–79 (.512)
Divisional place3rd—tied
OwnersJohn McMullen
General managersAl Rosen
Dick Wagner
ManagersBob Lillis
TelevisionKTXH
HSE
RadioKTRH
(Gene Elston, Milo Hamilton, Larry Dierker, Jim Durham, Jerry Trupiano)
← 1984 Seasons 1986 →

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.

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.

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

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Regular season

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Summary

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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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5]

On July 11, Ryan's strikeout of Danny Heep of the New York Mets was 4,000th of his career.

On July 27, the Astros lost to the Mets, 16–4, despite not allowing a single earned run in the game.[6]

Season standings

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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

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1985 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
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

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Roster

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1985 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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

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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

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Starting pitchers

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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

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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

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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

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Awards
NL pitching leaders

Minor league system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Jimmy Johnson
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Carlos Alfonso
A Osceola Astros Florida State League Dave Cripe
A Asheville Tourists South Atlantic League Fred Hatfield
A-Short Season Auburn Astros New York–Penn League Bob Hartsfield
Rookie GCL Astros Gulf Coast League Julio Linares

References

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  1. ^ Manuel Lee at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 19, 2025). "Today in Astros history—May 18–19". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
  3. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 29, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 29". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  4. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 9, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 9". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  5. ^ O'Neill, Shawn (July 5, 2025). "Nolan Ryan allowed one walk-off HR: This legendary manager hit it". MLB.com. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
  6. ^ "Houston Astros at New York Mets box score and play by play". Baseball-Reference.com. July 27, 1985. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  7. ^ Mike Simms at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ "Brad Gulden Stats".
  9. ^ Jim Deshaies at Baseball Reference
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