05/01 2003 An emotional day in Houston ends with an 8-7 loss to the Braves. The Astros had earlier released starting shortstop Julio Lugo after his arrest on domestic violence charges the night before. Shane Reynolds, in his first Houston appearance since his sudden spring release, gives up five runs in five innings for Atlanta but Houston wastes a six-RBI performance by Lance Berkman when Mark DeRosa slams a two-run shot off Billy Wagner in the ninth. Expected to challenge for the division crown, the freefalling Astros drop their 14th game in their last 18.
05/01 1987 Nolan Ryan belts his second career home run as he coasts to a 12-3 win over Atlanta. It's a three-run shot off Charlie Puleo and caps a 10-0 lead. Kevin Bass also homers in a three-hit effort.
05/01 1972 A sacrifice fly by Tommy Helms proves to be the game-winner as the Astros outslug Pittsburgh, 9-8. Jim Wynn's grand slam and a three-run shot by Johnny Edwards build a 7-3 lead but the Pirates rally to tie. An RBI single by Bob Watson breaks the deadlock but Helms' insurance run is needed at the end.
05/01 1969 
For only the second time in major league history, back-to-back no-hitters are tossed. Don Wilson avenges Jim Maloney's no-no by hurling one against the Reds, 4-0, at Crosley Field 
. Doug Rader homers and squeezes the final out on a foul pop. Wilson, who fans 13 and walks six, has two career no-hitters and has yet to see his 25th birthday.
05/01 1965 Astros sweep the Cubs, 6-4 and 6-1, to run their winning streak to ten games. Though tied several times, the streak remains a club record for 34 years.
05/02 2017 Marwin Gonzalez' grand slam homer caps a five-run eighth-inning rally that stuns the Rangers, 8-7. It was Marwin's second homer of the game. Jose Altuve also went deep.
05/02 2008 Consecutive homers by Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee highlight a 7-4 victory over Milwaukee. The feat happens in the sixth off Carlos Villarreal. Tejada's blast comes after he promised a homer to a child with muscular dystrophy before the game. Hunter Pence accounts for the other three tallies with a pair of long balls.
05/02 2001 Lance Berkman and Moises Alou slug back-to-back home runs in the tenth inning then hold on to nip the Mets, 6-5. Solo shots are the order of the day as Alou, Craig Biggio and Daryle Ward go yard in the eighth inning as well. Carlos Alfonso and Jay Payton play long ball for New York.
05/02 1986 Bob Knepper runs his record to 5-0 with a 6-1 victory at chilly Montreal. Manager Hal Lanier has been using a three-man rotation of Knepper, Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan to get the Astros off to a fast start.
05/02 1967 Houston erupts for eight runs in the eighth to wallop the Phillies, 10-3. Rusty Staub has four RBIs. Bob Aspromonte slams a three-run shot and Jim Wynn has two hits in the decisive frame. Winning pitcher Mike Cuellar drills a run-scoring double to help his own cause.
05/03 2022 Dusty Baker gets his 2,000th career managerial win in a 4-0 whitewash of Seattle. Baker becomes the 12th manager and first African-American to reach that plateau. Cristian Javier and three relievers complete the four-hitter while Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve support them with home runs.
05/03 2015 Evan Gattis homers twice and drives in four to defeat Seattle, 8-7. The win extends Houston's win streak to ten games and gives them the best record in franchise history (18-7) to begin a season. They lead the American League West by seven games.
05/03 1992 Steve Finley's home run in the bottom of the eighth gives the Astros a 1-0 triumph against the Pirates. Four pitchers combine on a four-hitter with Al Osuna getting the win.
05/03 1980 Bill Virdon picks up his 356th win as a Houston manager, setting a team record, as the Astros edge St. Louis, 4-2. Vern Ruhle is the hero, going 8-2/3rds innings for the win, producing two hits and driving in a run. Terry Puhl and Jose Cruz supply two hits apiece. Joe Sambito nails the final out for the save.
05/03 1974 Astros get an assist from part of the Astrodome crowd as they drop the Cardinals, 4-1. Two female fans run nude through the outfield during the seventh-inning stretch. The distracted Cards give up three runs in the bottom half of the frame. A two-run single by Doug Rader is the key hit. Claude Osteen goes the distance.
05/03 1966 Joe Morgan homers and drives in three to pace the Astros past the Cubs, 10-2. Dave Giusti is the complete-game winner, assisted by three Chicago errors that provide five unearned runs. Sonny Jackson adds three hits and a stolen base.
05/04 2018 Gerrit Cole spins a 1-hit complete game shutout at Arizona in interleague play, 8-0, while striking out 16. Chris Owings breaks up the no-hit bid with a clean double in the fifth. Yuli Gurriel paces the offense with four hits while Carlos Correa doubles twice and drives in three. The 21-13 squad is tied with Anaheim for the division lead.
05/04 2001 Craig Biggio collects his 2,000th career hit during an 8-4 victory in Montreal. It's an infield single off Javier Vasquez. He later singles before Jeff Bagwell belts a disputed three-run shot in the fifth to open the scoring. Wade Miller, named NL Pitcher of the Month for April, picks up his fifth win.
05/04 1975 Bob Watson scores baseball's millionth run in the first game of a doubleheader split in San Francisco. Despite Milt May's homer, Watson runs full speed around the bases, edging Cincinnati's Dave Concepcion for the milestone moment . Watson should have given lessons about finding home plate. A record 41 walks are issued in the twinbill, with an league-record 26 coming in the nightcap which Houston pulls out, 12-8. J.R. Richard walks a club-record eleven batters in the second game.
05/04 1973 Houston scores four in the 14th to topple the Mets, 9-5. Doug Rader's two-run double is the big blow in the inning. Cesar Cedeno has four hits, including a home run. Jim Ray is the winning pitcher.
05/04 1969 Astros tie a major league mark, turning seven double plays in a 3-1 victory over the Giants . First baseman Curt Blefary makes a putout in all seven.
05/05 2010 Homerless all season, Carlos Lee drills a two-run shot off Juan Gutierrez in the bottom of the ninth to topple the Diamondbacks, 4-2, and halt an eight-game losing streak . However, their 9-18 start is the worst record in the National League.
05/05 2004 Roger Clemens passes Steve Carlton to become second on the all-time strikeout list behind Nolan Ryan. He fans Pittsburgh's Raul Mondesi for his 4,137th career K. Clemens also runs his season record to 6-0 with a 6-2 victory.
05/05 1991 Rookie Jeff Bagwell hits only the ninth upper-deck home run at Three Rivers Stadium, a 456-foot pinch-hit poke in a 6-4 victory over Pittsburgh. Steve Finley follows with a two-run shot for the winning margin.
05/05 1987 Pitcher Danny Darwin , lifetime 2-for-26 with 20 strikeouts at the plate before the game, delivers three hits in a 5-1 triumph against the Phillies. He slaps a ground-rule double and a bunt single before spanking a two-run triple over Milt Thompson's head in center field in the seventh inning for the game-winner.
05/05 1966 "13" is not an unlucky number when the Astros trip the Cubs, 4-3, in 13 innings. Jim Wynn singles home Joe Morgan for Houston's 13th win of the season. Dick Farrell and Bill Faul, who both wear 13 on their backs, are the starters but it's Frank Carpin who gets the victory.
05/06 2001 Jeff Bagwell hits a grand slam and drives in five while Julio Lugo goes five-for-five during a 13-7 spanking in Montreal. Richard Hidalgo adds a three-run shot. Six runs in the sixth break open a 3-3 tie.
05/06 1998 In perhaps the most dominant pitching performance of all time, Cubs rookie Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Astros en route to a 2-0 shutout. 
Ricky Gutierrez' third-inning single is the lone Houston hit. Wood walks none and hits one batter. Derek Bell is the final victim as Wood sets a National League single-game strikeout mark, tying Roger Clemens for the major league record.
05/06 1984 Astros club 19-year-old phenom Dwight Gooden with eight runs in the third on their way to a 10-1 drubbing of the Mets. Nolan Ryan, almost twice Gooden's age, scatters six hits for the victory. Ryan contributes a bunt hit over Gooden's head in the rally while Mark Bailey drives home the first and last runs of the frame.
05/06 1980 Cold, damp Olympic Stadium is where the Astros must wait through a rain delay of three hours and 50 minutes to complete an 8-4 victory. Jose Cruz has four RBIs to lead the Astros while Joe Niekro survives the weather and the Expos for a complete-game win.
05/06 1968 Judge Roy Hofheinz gives San Francisco's Willie Mays a 569-lb. cake for his 37th birthday. Rusty Staub serves the dessert with six RBIs in a 10-2 Houston win.
05/07 2018 George Springer goes 6-for-6, the first Astro in franchise history to accomplish the feat in a nine-inning game, as Houston bombs the Athletics, 16-2. Marwin Gonzalez homers and drives in five. Dallas Keuchel goes eight innings to post just his second win of the year.
05/07 2000 Roger Cedeno's three-run homer keys a seven-run tenth inning that sinks the Dodgers, 14-8. Mitch Meluskey delivers five hits while Ken Caminiti and Richard Hidalgo go deep.
05/07 1996 Anthony Young , who had the majors' longest personal losing streak while with the Mets and Cubs, gets the win as Houston roars back to topple the Phillies, 7-5. Jeff Bagwell launches two home runs while Sean Berry adds a solo shot. Both rap four hits on the evening.
05/07 1974 Tom Griffin one-hits the Pirates, 2-1, outdueling Dock Ellis for the victory. Milt May triples home Bob Watson with the winning run.
05/07 1971 Joe Morgan raps four hits, steals two bases, scores three times and drives in two to lead the Astros over the Phillies, 8-1, in their first game at Veterans Stadium. Don Wilson strikes the key blow off Jim Bunning, a bunt that found a hole in the artificial turf between third and the pitcher and rolled until two runs were in.
05/08 2005 The Astros find themselves in last place after a 16-0 drubbing by the Braves. Ex-Astro Mike Hampton tosses a complete-game two-hitter and swats a homer while reserve outfielder Ryan Langerhans drills two home runs and drives in six. The loss ties the most lopsided defeat in team history.
05/08 2004 Craig Biggio spanks a leadoff single for his 2,500th career hit. He celebrates by launching solo homers in his next two at bats. But he strikes out in a key ninth-inning situation and the bullpen melts down in a 5-4 ten-inning loss in Atlanta. Andruw Jones' blast off Ricky Stone is the game-winner.
05/08 1987 Mike Scott hurls a two hitter to stop the Expos, 3-0. Scott fans twelve and walks only two. Phil Garner's solo homer in the first is all the offense Scott will need.
05/08 1974 Doug Rader's three-run homer in the 12th lifts the Astros over Pittsburgh, 8-6. Rookie Dave Parker, substituting for an ejected Richie Zisk, had slammed a solo homer in the top of the inning to give the Pirates a lead before Rader's blast off Jim Sadowski settles the issue.
05/08 1969 Houston storms back from a 6-1 deficit with three runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to upend the Phillies, 7-6, at Connie Mack Stadium. Jesus Alou has a big night, driving in two runs with a double then producing an RBI single in the two rallies. Johnny Edwards' two-run single is the game-winner. Fred Gladding quells a Philadelphia threat to save the game for Jack Billingham.
05/09 2019 Heavy thunderstorms rock Minute Maid Park inside and out. Water gushes from the seams of the retractable roof onto the stands but the largest thunder is when Josh Reddick robs Hunter Pence of a potential three-run homer to seal a 4-2 win over the Rangers. Reddick also delivered the tie-breaking single earlier. George Springer swats his team-leading 13th homer. Houston opens a four-game lead in the AL West.
05/09 2007 Woody Williams, a Houston native signed at age 40 as a free agent, gets his first win as an Astro in eight starts. The righthander gets the gamewinning hit as well, a bloop single to right for a 3-2 victory in Cincinnati. Lance Berkman supplies the other two runs with a homer in the third. Craig Biggio leads off the game with a double, the 646th of his career to tie Carl Yastrzemski for seventh all time. It's his 2,963rd career hit.
05/09 1983 Phil Garner scores the winning run while ex-Astro Danny Heep argues the call of first base ump Terry Tata in a 6-4 victory over the New York Mets. Tata had ruled that Jose Cruz beat Heep to the bag on a roller to first. Nobody calls for time and Garner alertly speeds home. Garner's double off the third base bag had scored Omar Moreno and Dickie Thon to set up the go-ahead moment.
05/09 1976 Houston catchers combine for the cycle during a 10-5 beating of St. Louis. Cliff Johnson pounds four hits (two singles, a double and a homer) before twisting his ankle. Backup Skip Jutze triples in the seventh.
05/09 1963 Frank Robinson blasts two home runs and drives in seven as the Reds stampede the Colts, 13-3. The last of his mammoth shots comes at the expense of Jim Umbricht, making his first appearance after cancer surgery. Umbricht has over 100 stitches in his leg as he takes the mound.
05/10 1993 Ken Caminiti spanks a two-run double that caps a four-run eighth as Houston stuns the Braves, 5-2. Jose Uribe scores the game-winner. Xavier Hernandez picks up the win in relief.
05/10 1992 Jeff Bagwell comes off the bench to club a solo homer in the eighth that ties the Pirates at 4-4. He then tags Roger Mason in the tenth with another blast to cap a 6-4 victory.
05/10 1986 Glenn Davis swats two home runs and a double in leading a 6-3 triumph at Pittsburgh. Rick Rhoden and Bob Walk are his victims. Kevin Bass adds a solo shot to the winning effort.
05/10 1979 Dr. John McMullen purchases the Astros from the Ford Motor Credit Corporation. The shipping magnate, a former partner of New York Yankee boss George Steinbrenner, jokes that nothing is more limited than being Steinbrenner's limited partner.
05/10 1972 Pencil-thin shortstop Roger Metzger belts his first major-league homer to spark a six-run eighth-inning rally that shocks the Cardinals, 10-7. The shot comes off Hall-Of-Famer Bob Gibson. Pinch-hitter Jimmy Stewart's two-run triple gives Houston the lead. Lee May caps a four-hit night with a ninth-inning blast. Houston leads the NL West by a game over Los Angeles.
05/11 2008 Hunter Pence breaks up a no-hit bid in Los Angeles with a single after two outs in the seventh. The bats wake up and clobber the Dodgers with an 8-5 thrashing. Houston wins their eighth game in their last nine while climbing within 1-1/2 games of the division lead.
05/11 1999 Houston ties a club record for runs scored during a 19-8 demolition of the Pirates at the Astrodome. Seven Astros, including Tim Bogar and Paul Bako , have multi-hit games in the 18-hit assault. Houston breaks open the game with back-to-back five-run frames in the fourth and fifth, making an easy winner of Sean Bergman, who surrenders six runs in five innings of work. Houston's ten doubles sets another club mark.
05/11 1985 Astros rebound from a 5-0 deficit to take a 10-7 victory in Cincinnati. A five-run sixth does the trick as Phil Garner drills a bases-loaded triple off Mario Soto then scores on a suicide squeeze bunt by Mark Bailey.
05/11 1973 Manager Leo Durocher returns from a three-week hospital stay to watch Don Wilson toss a three-hitter over Cincinnati, 5-1. Lee May's two-run shot gets the scoring started. Interim manager Preston Gomez was 14-3 in Durocher's absence, perhaps leading Leo to a quicker recovery.
05/11 1963 Bob Aspromonte slugs a tenth-inning homer as the Colt .45s sweep the Cubs, 2-1. Jim Umbricht pitches two innings for the victory.
05/12 2019 George Springer spanks five hits, including two homers, during a 15-5 trouncing of the Rangers that completes a four-game series sweep. Alex Bregman also belts a pair of homers and drives in five. Houston native Corbin Martin wins in his major league debut.
05/12 2007 Roy Oswalt sails to his sixth win in a 10-4 bombing of the Diamondbacks. Mike Lamb and rookie Hunter Pence crunch three hits apiece, including a home run. Carlos Lee and Luke Scott also go deep. Lee leads the league in RBIs with 34. Craig Biggio ties Sam Crawford on the all-time hits list at 2,964 while passing Carl Yastrzemski for seventh on the all-time doubles list (647).
05/12 1996 Reserve catcher Jerry Goff ties a modern major-league record, allowing six passed balls in a 7-6 loss to Montreal. Goff also plunks a homer and goes two-for-four in his final major league appearance.
05/12 1978 Reliever Tom Dixon singles home Julio Gonzalez in the 14th inning for a wild 5-4 victory in New York. It's his first big league hit. Houston scores twice in the ninth to reach extra innings then takes the lead in the 12th on a two-run homer by Enos Cabell. Ken Forsch can't hold the lead, setting up Dixon's heroics.
05/12 1974 Cincinnati fans hurl beer, ice, cups and insults at an injured Bob Watson after the left-fielder crashes head-first into the fence. It happens in the nightcap of a doubleheader loss at Riverfront. Watson's glasses shatter. He gets twelve stitches to his face at a local hospital.
05/13 2022 The Astros run their winning streak to 11 with a 6-1 triumph over the Nationals. Framber Valdez got the victory, supported by home runs from Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel and Yordan Alvarez. Pitching has dominated, allowing just 1.09 runs per game during the streak. The win also pushes Dusty Baker past Leo Durocher on the All-Time managerial list with 2009 victories.
05/13 2009 Every person in the Astros' starting lineup, including pitcher Mike Hampton, has a multi-hit game in the 15-11 victory over Colorado at Coors Field. Lance Berkman leads the 24-hit attack (one shy of the club record) with a 4-for-4 night. Miguel Tejada adds three hits while Geoff Blum drives in five. Houston scores all their runs without the benefit of a homer.
05/13 1988 Glenn Davis drives in four and Gerald Young provides four hits as Houston pounds the Cubs, 8-2. Nolan Ryan tosses his first complete game in over two years, fanning eleven. Davis leads the league in RBIs (33) while Young leads in stolen bases (22).
05/13 1981 Don Sutton twirls a five-hit shutout to blank St. Louis, 3-0. Art Howe adds a two-run homer. Off the field, Mike Ivie is hospitalized for mental exhaustion less than a month after he was traded to Houston for Jeff Leonard and Dave Bergman. Expected to be the cleanup hitter, Ivie bats .237 with no homers in 19 games. He will miss the rest of the season.
05/13 1969 Houston plays their first game outside the United States, a 10-3 pounding of the Montreal Expos at Parc Jarry. Doug Rader drives in three and Johnny Edwards produces two run-scoring singles against their new expansion foe. Donn Clendenon, who refused to accept a trade to Houston during the winter, goes 0-for-5.
05/13 1966 Dick Farrell and Claude Raymond combine for a one-hitter in Philadelphia. The Astros only manage three hits themselves but the last is a ninth-inning blast by Jim Wynn off Chris Short that hits the roof of Connie Mack Stadium for a 1-0 victory.
05/14 2008 Lance Berkman's incredible month continues during a 6-3 win at San Francisco. He hits a two-run homer to give him a majors-leading 14. He also leads the National League in RBIs (40), runs (43) and OPS (1.264). He's batting .580 for the month and his current batting average (.388) is second overall. Miguel Tejada and Brad Ausmus drive in the other runs. The next day, Berkman homers into McCovey Cove to complete an 8-7 comeback. Houston has won 18 of their last 24 after a 6-12 start.
05/14 1993 Ken Caminiti drills a bases-loaded double to key a seven-run fifth as Houston stops the Dodgers, 9-1. Scott Servais swats his third hit of the night, a two-run shot in the eighth, for good measure.
05/14 1985 Rookies Ron Mathis and Mark Ross team up to blank Montreal, 10-0. Craig Reynolds is the offensive star with four hits, including a two-run double. Jerry Mumphrey and Bill Doran each contribute three hits. Mathis would have only three major league wins in his career. Ross would have two.
05/14 1975 Doug Rader belts two homers and drives in five to pace an 11-7 triumph at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Roger Metzger adds four hits while Bob Watson supplies three, including a home run.
05/14 1972 Astros put the shift on for Willie Stargell, leading 7-6 with two out and two on in the top of the ninth. It works as Stargell rolls out to shortstop Roger Metzger, who is behind second base, for the final out. Houston had built a 7-2 lead behind homers from Cesar Cedeno and Bob Watson.
05/15 2005 On the same night that Jeff Bagwell announces he will need shoulder surgery, Morgan Ensberg fills his role with three home runs and five RBIs as Houston wallops the Giants, 9-0. Brandon Backe spins a complete-game four-hitter. Craig Biggio swats his seventh homer of the year, tying Ensberg for the club lead.
05/15 2001 Tony Eusebio belts a two-run blast in the 12th inning to muzzle the Cubs, 9-7. Vinny Castilla, signed earlier in the day, adds three hits including a homer. Castilla becomes one of the best in-season signings in team history, batting .270 with 23 homers and 82 RBIs while solidifying third base.
05/15 1999 Craig Biggio goes four-for-four with four RBIs to pace a 10-5 victory over San Francisco. Biggio and Jeff Bagwell both launch three-run shots off Mark Gardner. Mike Hampton cruises to his fifth win.
05/15 1978 J.R. Richard two-hits Philadelphia in a 5-0 shutout. He fans nine and allows two harmless singles. Bob Watson 's two-run homer paces the offense. Phillie catcher Bob Boone has a rough night, committing two errors and suffering five bruises before being tossed in an argument with umpire Bruce Froemming.
05/15 1973 A furious GM Spec Richardson posts a message on the Astrodome scoreboard blaming recent Houston losses on umpires Bruce Froemming and Augie Donatelli. Froemming had negated a key inning-ending double play during a 4-1 defeat to Atlanta, ruling the Astros missed second base. Donatelli's gaffe, two days earlier, was to rule a Bobby Tolan home run fair after it had landed foul. The league fines Richardson $300.
05/16 2011 The Astros formally announce the sale of the ballclub to a group of investors led by Houston shipping magnate Jim Crane. The reported cost is $680 million dollars, the second highest amount to date for a Major League franchise. The sale awaits the approval of the other owners before becoming official. Elsewhere, the Astros drop a 3-2 decision to the Braves to sport a 15-26 record - worst in the National League.
05/16 1998 Craig Biggio swats a dramatic ninth-inning homer off Kerry Ligtenberg to drop the Braves, 3-2. Houston had scored twice on Greg Maddux but Atlanta evens it with two against Shane Reynolds. Doug Henry throws two perfect innings of relief to get the win.
05/16 1993 Doug Drabek drills a home run off Pedro Martinez to beat the Dodgers, 3-2. Drabek picks up his fourth win while Doug Jones gets the save. Earlier, Craig Biggio had tagged Pedro Astacio for a solo shot.
05/16 1981 Craig Reynolds ties a major-league mark with three triples during a 6-1 victory over Chicago. It is part of a four-hit night with four RBIs. His first triple sails to the gap in right-center. His other two hug the right field line. Nolan Ryan and Joe Sambito team up to tame the Cubs.
05/16 1971 Doug Rader belts a grand slam and drives in six to pace a 12-4 thumping of the Cardinals. His two-run double in the third follows the first-inning slam. Jack Hiatt and Roger Metzger add three hits apiece in the 17-hit performance.
05/17 2023 Trailing the Cubs 6-1 in the eighth inning, Jake Meyers blasts a two-run homer then, in the ninth, Houston tallies four as Kyle Tucker's bases-loaded single wins a 7-6 thriller. The series sweep puts the Astros at 24-19, two games behind the Rangers in the A.L. West race.
05/17 2022 Houston ties a big league record with five homers in one inning during a 13-4 blowout of Boston at Fenway Park. Nathan Eovaldi surrenders bombs from Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Michael Brantley and Yuli Gurriel in the second inning for a nine-run frame. Tucker has the encore with a grand slam in the fourth to give him six RBIs. Jose Urquidy is the lucky winning pitcher.
05/17 2009 Ivan Rodriguez belts the 300th homer of his career in a 6-5 victory at Chicago. Wrigley fans toss back the momento, much to the catcher's delight. Chris Sampson picks up his first career save but does so only after allowing two runs in the ninth and needing Jeff Keppinger to catch a screaming liner with two men on for the final out. Sampson was pressed into service after three Houston relievers had been sent to the Disabled List and a fourth was dinged up the day before.
05/17 1990 Eric Anthony becomes the first Astro to reach the Dome's upper reserved seats in right field with a mammoth blast off Mike Bielecki in a 5-4, eleven-inning victory against Chicago. Cincinnati's Bernie Carbo was the only previous player to do it. Ken Oberkfell's sacrifice fly scores Ken Caminiti with the game-winner.
05/17 1968 First baseman Rusty Staub visits Larry Dierker at the mound during a 6-0 loss in Los Angeles. Absent-mindedly, he spits on the ball while standing on the hill. Zoilo Versalles has a three-ball count and Staub's miscue becomes an automatic ball four. Versalles eventually scores.
05/17 1963 Don Nottebart hurls the first no-hitter in franchise history, a 4-1 triumph over Philadelphia at Colt Stadium. Nottebart fans eight and walks three. Carl Warwick and Howie Goss homer to supply Houston its runs. Al Spangler snares Wes Covington's fly on the run for the final out. It is just the third Colts win in 24 tries against their early nemesis.
05/18 2002 Jose Vizcaino slams a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to drop the Pirates, 2-1. Octavio Dotel gets the win after Tim Redding works seven solid innings. The victory pulls the Astros back to the .500 mark for the season and into a tie for second place in the Central Division.
05/18 1986 Five Cubs suffer food poisoning prior to a 5-2 Chicago victory at the Astrodome. All had eaten hamburgers and bad mayo is the prime suspect. Pitcher Rick Sutcliffe is hospitalized.
05/18 1967 Jim Wynn 's first-inning homer off the left-field foul pole ignites a near riot during a 6-2 Astros win. Giants Manager Herman Franks and umpire Shag Crawford nearly come to blows as Franks insists the hit was foul. A voice in the dugout calls Crawford a "meathead" and Ollie Brown gets tossed for it, inciting another feud. Pitcher Gaylord Perry, who gave up the homer, later admits it was he who used the m-word.
05/18 1966 Houston sweeps the Cubs, 5-1 and 4-2, to take sole possession of second place in the NL race. Homers by Lee Maye and Rusty Staub back Dave Giusti in the opener while Robin Roberts notches his 284th career victory in the nightcap. Astros sit 2-1/2 games behind the Giants for first.
05/18 1962 Ken Johnson gives up a game-tying homer to Willie McCovey in the bottom of the ninth but singles home Carl Warwick in the tenth for a 3-2 victory. Norm Larker also homers for Houston.
05/19 2006 After losing three at home to the Giants by a combined 34-5 and getting two suspensions, the Astros appear in a free-fall until Adam Everett delivers a three-run double off Joaquin Benoit in the bottom of the eighth to topple the Texas Rangers, 5-3. Brad Lidge, who had temporarily lost his closer role, returns to nail down his 12th save. Chad Qualls gets the win after rescuing Roy Oswalt from a bases-loaded jam in the seventh. The day was a 20th Anniversary tribute to the division-winning 1986 Astros, made sweeter by a comeback win befitting that club.
05/19 1995 A grand slam by Tony Eusebio keys a seven-run uprising as Houston pummels Montreal, 10-2. Jeff Bagwell had earlier provided a two-run blast off Pedro Martinez.
05/19 1989 Mike Scott pitches seven innings of no-hit ball before Glenn Wilson singles to break it up. It is Pittsburgh's only hit in a 3-0 Houston triumph, the third one-hitter of Scott's career. Houston had tried to trade for Wilson earlier in the month but reached a snag when Alan Ashby, whom the Pirates wanted, vetoed the deal. Ashby is released soon afterwards.
05/19 1985 Jim Pankovits raps four hits, including a double and a home run, to pace a 7-3 victory over St. Louis. Enos Cabell and Alan Ashby also go deep.
05/19 1968 Astros take no prisoners in a doubleheader sweep at Los Angeles, 2-1 and 3-1. In the nightcap, while walking down to first, Jim Wynn points out a snake in the basepath. Coach Mel McGaha gets a bat and beats the viper to death. Denny Lemaster and Mike Cuellar hypnotize the Dodgers with complete-game victories.
05/20 1999 Billy Wagner surrenders two homers but hangs on for a 4-3, ten-inning victory in Los Angeles. A double by Derek Bell and a sacrifice fly by Ken Caminiti in the tenth salvage the win after light-hitting Tripp Cromer took Wagner deep with two down in the bottom of the ninth.
05/20 1995 Jeff Shaw walks home Craig Biggio with the winning run in the tenth as Houston nips the Expos, 2-1. Pinch-hitter Dave Magadan takes ball four to end the game. John Hudek picks up the win.
05/20 1988 Billy Hatcher delivers five hits during a 5-3 triumph in St. Louis. His last one snaps a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth, driving in Terry Puhl. Bob Knepper picks up his sixth win - lowering his ERA to 0.89 for the season. The two sides commit seven errors and even Cardinal wizard Ozzie Smith is not immune.
05/20 1978 J.R. Richard fires his second-straight shutout in a 13-0 drubbing of the Braves. Jose Cruz is the batting star with four hits and six RBIs. Enos Cabell contributes three hits while Denny Walling launches his first major league home run.
05/20 1973 Johnny Edwards belts a three-run homer as Houston builds a 7-0 lead against the Giants. San Francisco rallies to tie it but Jim Wynn smashes a solo shot off Sam McDowell in the ninth for an 8-7 victory. Astros take over first place in the NL West.
05/21 2019 Justin Verlander tosses 6-1/3rd innings of no-hit ball before a home run by Jose Abreu ruins the bid and the shutout. It was the only blemish in a 5-1 victory in which Verlander fanned 12 over eight innings. Michael Brantley punches a bases-loaded double off Aaron Bummer into the left field corner to key a four-run fifth. Yuli Gurriel also homers. Verlander is now 8-1 with a 2.24 ERA in 11 starts to begin the year.
05/21 2010 On the day it's announced that ace pitcher Roy Oswalt is asking to be traded, the last-place Astros nip the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1, as Brett Myers scatters six hits over seven innings. The Rays have the best record in baseball while the 15-27 Astros have the National League's worst mark. Oswalt has a 2-6 record despite a 2.66 ERA.
05/21 1997 An intentional walk to Jeff Bagwell with the bases empty and two outs in the 14th backfires on the Reds. It is Jeff's third free pass of the night but he steals second and scores on a single by Luis Gonzalez for a 4-3 triumph. Bill Spiers adds four hits.
05/21 1977 Ballboy Scotty Tarvin gloves Larry Bowa's double down the right field line. Umpires allow Bowa to take third during the 7-4 Phillies win at the Dome. Bowa later scores. Greg Luzinski tags Bo McLaughlin for a titanic shot into the upper reserved seats to help Philadelphia.
05/21 1965 Two nights after manager Luman Harris had been ejected by umpire John Kibler, Bob Aspromonte is ejected by Kibler after a tag call at third base. Bill Giles, the Dome's scoreboard operator, splashes the words "KIBLER DID IT AGAIN" on the big board. This led to an apology to the umpires and to Warren Giles, Bill's father and president of the league. Pitcher Ron Herbel of the Giants also gets the first hit of his career after going oh-for-55 in the 8-1 San Francisco decision. Herbel retired with an .029 batting average in nine seasons.
05/22 1993 Ken Caminiti swats two solo homers and Jeff Bagwell hits only the tenth Loge Level home run at Jack Murphy Stadium, but the Padres dominate in a 9-4 decision. The blasts account for three of the five hits the Astros accumulate.
05/22 1984 Fredbird, the mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals, tackles Enos Cabell in pre-game warmups. Cabell aggravates a knee injury. Heated words are exchanged between the two clubs but Houston gets revenge in the twelfth when Mark Bailey triples off Bruce Sutter to key a 4-3 victory.
05/22 1974 Milt May belts a two-out pinch-hit grand slam homer off Vicente Romo in the ninth inning to topple San Diego, 5-1 . Claude Osteen and Randy Jones had dueled to a 1-1 draw for eight innings. Osteen takes the victory, allowing five hits. Osteen had once tutored Jones when the hurler was in junior high school.
05/22 1968 Dave Giusti tosses a two-hitter in a nail-biting 1-0 shutout in Cincinnati. The first hit, with two out in the eighth, is questionable after Pete Rose's bloop escapes Jim Wynn's glove. Vada Pinson later gets a clean double. Rusty Staub singles home Ron Davis for the only run.
05/22 1965 The Astrodome appears on national television for the first time. Viewers of ABC's Game Of The Week watch Willie Mays blast a mammoth shot into the center field tunnel as the Giants pummels the Astros, 10-1. Chris Schenkel and Leo Durocher are the announcers. In the untelevised nightcap of the day-night twinbill, Nellie Fox drives home Rusty Staub in the eighth for a 3-2 Houston victory. Joe Gaines homers.
05/23 2015 Astros turn a 5-4-3 triple play in Detroit which sparks a 3-2 victory over the Tigers. Jonathan Villar, Jose Altuve and Chris Carter perform the trifecta off the bat of Ian Kinsler. 21-year-old Lance McCullers, Jr., earns his first big league win.
05/23 2008 Jose Valverde takes a line drive off the face yet stays in the game to notch his league-leading 15th save in a 4-3 triumph against the Phillies. Hunter Pence had drilled two solo homers and Brandon Backe allowed just one run over 7-1/3rd innings but Valverde steals the spotlight with his amazing toughness.
05/23 2003 After 51 major league appearances, righthander Scott Linebrink gets his first big league win - and is released the next day. A six-run first inning allows Linebrink to post a 7-5 victory over the Cubs, capped by a three-run homer from Jose Vizcaino. Injuries and illnesses force the Astros into the roster move that sends Linebrink back to the farm.
05/23 1988 Mother Nature gets the save in a 3-0 victory at Pittsburgh. The game is called in the top of the ninth as swirling gale-force winds stop the action. Rafael Ramirez clings to third base for all he's worth. Dirt and debris litter the field. Mike Scott's eight scoreless innings are good enough.
05/23 1965 Hard luck pitcher Ken Johnson loses his last game for Houston, 5-2 at the hands of the Giants, in typical fashion. Jim Ray Hart hits a three-run inside-the-park homer in the first inning when Jim Wynn fails to track the fly ball as it falls on the warning track behind him. Johnson is traded later that afternoon to Milwaukee for Lee Maye.
05/24 1997 Darryl Kile blanks the Rockies at Coors Field for seven innings during a 7-0 whitewash, allowing four hits. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell blast homers for Houston. Kile would opt for Colorado and free agency after the season, despite warnings his pitching would suffer in the thin Rocky Mountain air.
05/24 1996 Houston rallies for an 8-7 victory over the Cubs in the ten innings. Craig Biggio belts a two-run two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth off Turk Wendell before Sean Berry ties it. John Cangelosi singles home Ricky Gutierrez the next inning to win it. Todd Jones picks up the victory.
05/24 1994 Doug Drabek gets three hits and drives in two, as well as tossing a three-hit shutout, to steamroll the Braves, 8-0. James Mouton adds four hits and Scott Servais provides a three-run homer. Drabek runs his record to 7-1 on the season.
05/24 1981 Art Howe triples off Vida Blue to set a club-record 23-game hitting streak. San Francisco wins, however, 2-1. The only Houston run is on a solo shot by Luis Pujols.
05/24 1970 Astros erupt for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth to surprise the Reds, 10-7. Denis Menke has two hits in the inning and four in the game. Jesus Alou drives in three. Jack DiLauro saves it for Fred Gladding.
05/25 1999 Carl Everett singles home Bill Spiers with the winning run for a 2-1, twelve-inning victory over the Rockies. Everett had also doubled home Jeff Bagwell in the eighth for the only other Houston run. Scott Elarton wins in relief as he, Mike Hampton and Billy Wagner limit Colorado to five hits.
05/25 1977 Art Howe slams a Charlie Hough knuckler for his second homer of the day to upend the Dodgers, 7-6. Julio Gonzalez contributes four hits. Joaquin Andujar gets the win in relief.
05/25 1975 Coming back from an early 6-0 deficit, the Astros tie the Expos in the ninth on Cesar Cedeno's leadoff blast into the center field tunnel. Montreal's Mike Jorgensen doubles off Joe Niekro in the 12th to snap the tie. Doug Rader cracks his third double and fifth hit of the game before Enos Cabell doubles to tie it again. Milt May's bloop eludes three Expos for the game-winner to give Houston an 8-7 triumph.
05/25 1973 Lee May swats two homers to pace a 7-2 victory in Pittsburgh. Jerry Reuss goes the distance, scattering five hits for the win, pushing Houston back into a tie for the division lead.
05/25 1966 Dave Nicholson goes four-for-four with a home run while John Bateman goes three-for-three with a homer and a triple as the Astros club the Mets, 7-1. Larry Dierker strikes out eight and hurls a complete-game five-hitter. Houston moves to 2-1/2 games back of the Giants in second place, the closest they would be to the top of the standings this deep into the season until 1972.
05/26 2014 Rookie George Springer explodes for four hits and five runs scored in a 9-2 thrashing at Kansas City. His night includes his fourth homer in three games. The win is part of a seven-game streak that injects some life after a 17-32 start to the season.
05/26 1990 Glenn Davis mauls the Cubs at Wrigley Field during a doubleheader sweep. Davis swats two homers and a single for five RBIs in the 8-1 opener. In the nightcap, he adds another homer and two doubles with four RBIs to lead a 12-3 victory. Davis had been homerless for nearly three weeks before the twinbill.
05/26 1972 Dave Roberts throws a complete game against the Dodgers, a 5-3 triumph, setting a team record with six consecutive complete games by the staff. Six different Astro hurlers take part. Roberts scatters five hits in this one which saw both managers ejected and Bob Watson robbed twice by the men in blue.
05/26 1971 In the opener of a doubleheader in San Diego, Al Santorini starts against an Astro lineup stacked with seven lefty hitters. Santorini gets the first out and is yanked for lefty Dave Roberts. Houston wins, 2-1, behind Wade Blasingame. Santorini returns to start the nightcap, tossing six innings, but Larry Dierker bests him in an 8-0 one-hitter. The lone Padre hit was a broken-bat single by Ollie Brown in the seventh.
05/26 1967 With the wind blowing out at Wrigley, Rusty Staub, Joe Morgan, Jim Wynn and Ron Davis homer in a 17-4 bombing of Chicago. Conditions favor the hitters so well that John Bateman, after being plunked by a pitch, begs the umpire to let him stay and hit.
05/27 2008 Hunter Pence goes 5-for-5 and Miguel Tejada blasts a two-run homer to pace an 8-2 win in St. Louis behind seven strong innings from Shawn Chacon. The Astros and Cardinals are in a tie for second in the division behind Chicago.
05/27 1995 James Mouton sends the Astrodome fans home happy with a tenth-inning homer off Mike Stanton to stun the Braves, 3-2. John Hudek picks up the victory.
05/27 1989 Glenn Davis drills a two-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie Pittsburgh. In the 12th, he reaches on an error by Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Ramirez drives him home for the 5-4 triumph.
05/27 1969 Doug Rader belts a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth off Luis Peraza to beat the Phillies, 6-2. Don Wilson strikes out 13 and goes the distance for the victory. Denis Menke also homers.
05/27 1968 San Diego and Montreal are awarded NL expansion teams for 1969 and Dallasites are quick to blame Houston's Judge Roy Hofheinz for the snub. Montreal doesn't even have a minor league team at the time. One Dallas paper prints a picture of the judge with a bullseye over it. The Astros celebrate by clubbing the Dodgers, 10-1. Dallas-Ft. Worth would get the old Washington Senators team in 1972. Elsewhere, Jeff Bagwell is born in Boston, MA. He owns many records for the Astros, including the career marks for home runs and runs batted in.
05/28 2023 Yordan Alvarez homers twice, part of a 7-HR explosion to blow out Oakland, 10-1. Jose Altuve, fresh off returning from a broken thumb, clubs his first homer of the season and free agent Jose Abreu socks his first home run too. The homerfest ties a club record.
05/28 2006 Having lost five straight, as well as an 18-inning affair the night before, and trailing 4-0 in the ninth, the Astros get off the mat and stun the Pirates at PNC Park, 5-4, in ten innings. Houston takes advantage of two bases-loaded walks before Preston Wilson singles home Morgan Ensberg in the tenth for the game-winner.
05/28 2000 Lance Berkman and Ken Caminiti go deep off Rudy Seanez in the bottom of the eighth to shock the Braves, 4-3. Marc Valdes is the surprise winner in relief. The blasts ruin a fine effort by Kevin Millwood that comes eight months too late for Astros fans.
05/28 1982 Nolan Ryan fans eleven Mets in 5-2/3rds innings during an 8-3 victory. Mike LaCoss and Dave Smith strike out three each to total 17 Ks, one short of Don Wilson's club record. Dave Kingman whiffs five times, once with the bases loaded. Terry Puhl socks a home run and Phil Garner drives in three to pace the offense.
05/28 1969 Doug Rader delivers the game-winner again in a 7-6, ten-inning triumph over the Phillies that ties a club-record ten-game winning streak. This time it's a bases-loaded single off Gary Wagner that sends the crowd home happy. Afterwards, Rader apologizes for not slugging another grand slam.
05/29 2017 Down 8-2 in the eighth, Houston explodes for 11 runs on their way to a 16-8 thrashing of the Twins in Minnesota. Carlos Beltran leads the offense with four hits but Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Marwin Gonzalez each chips in three in the 18-hit attack.
05/29 1996 In a 7-4 Astros triumph, Jeff Bagwell swats an upper-deck shot off Danny Darwin at Three Rivers Stadium, to join Pirate legend Willie Stargell as the only players to reach that level more than once. Bagwell caps his four-hit, five-RBI night with a two-run shot off Francisco Cordova.
05/29 1985 Jim Pankovits ' grand slam off John Candelaria breaks a 3-3 tie as Houston belts the Pirates, 8-3. The blast keys a seven-run seventh inning after Phil Garner and Mark Bailey delivered RBI singles. Nolan Ryan picks up the victory.
05/29 1976 Joe Niekro tags his brother Phil for a home run in a 4-3 victory at Atlanta. It is the only homer in Joe's 21-season major league career (973 ABs). The seventh-inning blast comes on a knuckleball that Joe sends over the left field fence. Ken Boswell contributes three hits, including the game-winner.
05/29 1966 Jim Gentile drills a homer off Elroy Face in the eleventh inning to drop Pittsburgh, 3-2. John Bateman had earlier gone deep off Vern Law to send the game into overtime. Claude Raymond picks up the win.
05/30 2022 Framber Valdez spins a complete-game two-hitter while toppling Oakland, 5-1. Yordan Alvarez cracks two homers, including a 469-foot missile off the facade of the second deck in right-center. Jose Altuve adds a two-run shot of his own. At 31-18, Houston opens a four-game lead over Anaheim in the AL West.
05/30 2001 Wade Miller goes three-for-three and notches his seventh win to stop the Padres, 7-4. The win snaps an eight-game losing skid that had sunk Houston below the .500 mark. Craig Biggio leads off the game with his fifth home run of the year.
05/30 1983 Terry Puhl 's two-run two-out triple off the ivy beats Chicago, 9-7. The eighth-inning drive off Bill Campbell makes a winner of Bill Dawley. Ray Knight has three hits to pace Houston's attack.
05/30 1981 Rafael Landestoy steals a base and scores on a single by Terry Puhl as Houston outlasts the Giants, 8-7, in 14 innings. The Astros blew a lead in the ninth then blew a three-run lead in the 13th before putting this one away. Houston tallies 21 hits in the effort, including three by Joe Niekro.
05/30 1978 J.R. Richard tosses three wild pitches in the seventh inning, wasting his own three-hitter in the process. His last errant one allows Larry Herndon to trot home with the only run in a 1-0 defeat by Bob Knepper and San Francisco. The wild pitches tie a record Richard had already tied once that season.
05/30 1976 The Astros set a team record with 25 hits in the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep of the Braves. 23 of the hits are singles in the 16-5 victory. Jerry Davanon delivers three hits and drives in five. Cliff Johnson contributes four. Houston scores eight in the first three frames to cruise to the sweep. Tom Griffin is the winner in the 5-2 opener.
05/31 2017 The Astros complete a 22-7 month with a 17-6 destruction of the Twins, totaling 40 runs in the three-game sweep. George Springer muscles two homers including a 473-foot blast that just missed the third deck. At 38-16, Houston owns the best record in the majors.
05/31 2011 Jordan Lyles, the 20-year-old top prospect, makes his big league debut an impressive one. He blanks the Cubs for seven innings but his own throwing error puts him behind, 3-1, after eight. The Astros respond with six runs in the top of the ninth for a 7-3 stunner. Brett Wallace and Hunter Pence have three hits each, including a homer. Fernando Rodriguez gets his first big league win, not Lyles.
05/31 1975 Houston erupts for twelve runs in the eighth inning, setting a club mark, during a 15-3 bombing of Philadelphia. Wayne Twitchell, a former high Astros draft pick, had allowed two hits in seven innings before the collapse. Pinch-hitter Cliff Johnson belts a double and a home run for three RBIs during the frame but the league later rules that the homer cannot officially be a pinch hit since he batted earlier in the inning .
05/31 1965 The Astros score six times in the eighth inning to stun Milwaukee, 7-2. Four walks, a throwing error and a "hit" that fell out of Rico Carty's glove doom the Braves. Bob Bruce is the winning pitcher.
05/31 1962 Weldon Appelt proposes to Harris County Commissioners a stadium plan using arches that he says could be built faster and cheaper than the proposed domed stadium. Elsewhere, the Colts stun the Cubs with five runs in the ninth for a 10-6 shocker. Carl Warwick's two-run single precedes a three-run shot from Jim Pendleton in the uprising.