# 1985 Houston Astros season

The 1985 Houston Astros season was the 24th season for the Houston Astros, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 21st as the Astros, 17th in the National League West, and 21st at The Astrodome. It involved the Houston Astros attempting to win the National League West.

## Offseason

* December 3, 1984: Manuel Lee was drafted from the Astros by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1984 rule 5 draft.

## Regular season

* July 11, 1985: Nolan Ryan got the 4000th strikeout of his career by striking out Danny Heep of the New York Mets.
* July 27, 1985: The Astros lose to the New York Mets, 16–4, despite not allowing a single earned run in the game.

### Season standings

vteNL 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

1985 National League recordvte 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.
* June 12, 1985: Brad Gulden was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Cincinnati Reds.
* 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.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

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

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
#### Starting pitchers

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

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

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 |

## Farm system

| 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 |