1995 Houston Astros season

The 1995 Houston Astros season was the 34th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 31st as the Astros, 34th in the National League (NL), second in the NL Central division, and 31st at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a 66–49 record, a second-place finish and 1⁄2 game behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds, prior to the cancellation of the remaining 47 games of the regular season and entire playoffs as a response to the players' strike.

1995 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	Central
Ballpark	The Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	76–68 (.528)
Divisional place	2nd
Owners	Drayton McLane, Jr.
General managers	Bob Watson
Managers	Terry Collins
Television	KTXH Prime Sports Southwest
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Bill Brown, Milo Hamilton, Larry Dierker, Vince Controneo, Bill Worrell) KXYZ (Francisco Ernesto Ruiz, Danny Gonzalez)
← 1994 Seasons 1996 →

The strike continued to impact the start of the 1995 season, leading to further cancellation of the first 18 games of the regular season. The season began for Houston on April 26 at Jack Murphy Stadium, where pitcher Doug Drabek made his second Opening Day start for the Astros, who defeated the San Diego Padres, 10–2.

Second baseman Craig Biggio was selected to represent the Astros at the MLB All-Star game, his fourth career selection. The Astros' first round draft pick in the amateur draft was pitcher Tony McKnight, at 22nd overall.

With a 76–68 finish and 9 games out of first place behind the division-champion Cincinnati in the NL Central, the Astros secured their third consecutive season with a winning record—an unprecedented feat for the organization at the time—and a second-consecutive finish as high as second place. The Astros were also runners-up in the NL Wild Card race, trailing the Colorado Rockies by 1 game.

Following the season, Biggio earned his third career Silver Slugger Award, and second career Gold Glove Award, while shortstop Orlando Miller was selected to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team.

Offseason

• December 28, 1994: Ken Caminiti, Andújar Cedeño, Steve Finley, Roberto Petagine, Brian Williams and a player to be named later were traded by the Astros to the San Diego Padres for Derek Bell, Doug Brocail, Ricky Gutiérrez, Pedro A. Martínez, Phil Plantier, and Craig Shipley. The Astros completed the deal by sending Sean Fesh (minors) to the Padres on May 1, 1995.^[1]

Regular season

Summary

Opening Day starting lineup^[2]

Craig Biggio 2b
Luis Gonzalez lf
Jeff Bagwell 1b
Derek Bell cf
Phil Plantier rf
Dave Magadan 3b
Scott Servais c
Orlando Miller ss
Doug Drabek P

With the score tied 1–1 on May 20, Montreal Expos pitcher Jeff Shaw walked in Craig Biggio for the game-winning run as Houston won, 2–1.^[3]

Greg Swindell got a run batted in (RBI)-double on June 5 to bring the Astros back against the Florida Marlins. Meanwhile, Biggio delivered a three-run, walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure a 6–5 Houston win.^[4]

On June 16, the Astros outlasted the New York Mets in a 16-inning thriller to win, 7-5. Houston had gained the lead two separate times in extra innings, first in the 12th and again in the 15th. The Astros recaptured the lead for good after loading the bases for Jeff Bagwell.^[5]

Derek Bell had four hits on June 23 against the Chicago Cubs, and the Astros tied the game 2–2 in the bottom of the ninth. Bell's fourth hit came in the 12th inning, where he delivered the game-winning RBI for a 3–2 Astros win.^[6]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	85	59	.590	—	44‍–‍28	41‍–‍31
Houston Astros	76	68	.528	9	36‍–‍36	40‍–‍32
Chicago Cubs	73	71	.507	12	34‍–‍38	39‍–‍33
St. Louis Cardinals	62	81	.434	22½	39‍–‍33	23‍–‍48
Pittsburgh Pirates	58	86	.403	27	31‍–‍41	27‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1995 National League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 1995 v t e
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	8–4	8–5	9–4	10–3	6–6	5–4	9–4	5–8	7–6	4–2	5–2	7–1	7–5
Chicago	4–8	—	3–7	6–7	8–4	5–8	7–5	3–5	4–3	6–1	8–5	5–7	5–7	9–4
Cincinnati	5–8	7–3	—	5–7	6–6	12–1	4–3	8–4	7–5	9–3	8–5	3–6	3–3	8–5
Colorado	4–9	7–6	7–5	—	5–7	4–4	4–9	7–1	5–4	4–2	8–4	9–4	8–5	5–7
Florida	3–10	4–8	6–6	7–5	—	8–4	3–7	6–7	7–6	6–7	5–8	3–2	5–3	4–3
Houston	6–6	8–5	1–12	4–4	4–8	—	3–2	9–3	6–6	5–7	9–4	7–4	5–3	9–4
Los Angeles	4–5	5–7	3–4	9–4	7–3	2–3	—	7–5	6–6	4–9	9–4	7–6	8–5	7–5
Montreal	4–9	5–3	4–8	1–7	7–6	3–9	5–7	—	7–6	8–5	4–4	7–5	7–6	4–3
New York	8–5	3–4	5–7	4–5	6–7	6–6	6–6	6–7	—	7–6	4–3	6–7	5–8	3–4
Philadelphia	6-7	1–6	3–9	2–4	7–6	7–5	9–4	5–8	6–7	—	6–3	6–6	6–6	5–4
Pittsburgh	2–4	5–8	5–8	4–8	8–5	4–9	4–9	4–4	3–4	3–6	—	4–8	6–6	6–7
San Diego	2–5	7–5	6–3	4–9	2–3	4–7	6–7	5–7	7–6	6–6	8–4	—	6–7	7–5
San Francisco	1–7	7–5	3–3	5–8	3–5	3–5	5–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	6–6	7–6	—	7–6
St. Louis	5–7	4–9	5–8	7–5	3–4	4-9	5–7	3–4	4–3	4–5	7–6	5–7	6–7	—

Notable transactions

• July 2, 1995: Johan Santana was signed as an amateur free agent by the Astros.^[7]
• July 19, 1995: Phil Plantier was traded by the Astros to the San Diego Padres for Rich Loiselle and Jeff Tabaka.^[8]
• August 10, 1995: The Astros traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Mike Henneman. The Astros completed the deal by sending Phil Nevin to the Tigers on August 15.^[9]

Roster

1995 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 46 Doug Brocail 49 Jim Dougherty 15 Doug Drabek 10 Mike Hampton 58 Dean Hartgraves 39 Mike Henneman 35 John Hudek 59 Todd Jones 57 Darryl Kile 41,42 Pedro Martínez 38 Craig McMurtry 52 Ross Powell 37 Shane Reynolds 21,41 Greg Swindell 31 Jeff Tabaka 43 Dave Veres 13 Billy Wagner 56 Donne Wall		Catchers 17 Pat Borders 20 Tony Eusebio  9 Jerry Goff  9 Scott Servais 31,36 Eddie Tucker  3 Rick Wilkins Infielders  5 Jeff Bagwell  7 Craig Biggio  3 Chris Donnels 12 Ricky Gutiérrez 18,22 Dave Magadan 24 Orlando Miller 21 Phil Nevin 16,18 Craig Shipley 23 Mike Simms  4 Andy Stankiewicz		Outfielders 14 Derek Bell 36 Mike Brumley 27 John Cangelosi 26 Luis Gonzalez 19 Brian Hunter 16 Derrick May 18,6 James Mouton 17 Phil Plantier 28 Milt Thompson Other batters 21 Dave Hajek		Manager  2 Terry Collins Coaches 29 Jesse Barfield (first base) 48 Matt Galante (third base) 55 Steve Henderson (hitting)  1 Julio Linares (bench) 30 Mel Stottlemyre (pitching)

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	Tony Eusebio	113	368	110	.299	6	58
1B	Jeff Bagwell	114	448	130	.290	21	87
2B	Craig Biggio	141	553	167	.302	22	77
SS	Orlando Miller	92	324	85	.262	5	36
3B	Dave Magadan	127	348	109	.313	2	51
LF	Luis Gonzalez	56	209	54	.258	6	35
CF	Brian Hunter	78	321	97	.302	2	28
RF	Derek Bell	112	452	151	.334	8	86

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
James Mouton	104	298	78	.262	4	27
Craig Shipley	92	232	61	.263	3	24
Derrick May	78	206	62	.301	8	41
John Cangelosi	90	201	64	.318	2	18
Ricky Gutiérrez	52	156	43	.276	0	12
Milt Thompson	92	132	29	.220	2	19
Mike Simms	50	121	31	.256	9	24
Scott Servais	28	89	20	.225	1	12
Phil Plantier	22	68	17	.250	4	15
Phil Nevin	18	60	7	.117	0	1
Andy Stankiewicz	43	52	6	.115	0	7
Rick Wilkins	15	40	10	.250	1	5
Pat Borders	11	35	4	.114	0	0
Chris Donnels	19	30	9	.300	0	2
Jerry Goff	12	26	4	.154	1	3
Mike Brumley	18	18	1	.056	1	2
Eddie Tucker	5	7	2	.286	1	1
Dave Hajek	5	2	0	.000	0	0

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
Shane Reynolds	30	189.1	10	11	3.47	175
Doug Drabek	31	185.0	10	9	4.77	143
Greg Swindell	33	153.0	10	9	4.47	96
Mike Hampton	24	150.2	9	8	3.35	115
Darryl Kile	25	127.0	4	12	4.96	113

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
Doug Brocail	36	77.1	6	4	4.19	39
Donne Wall	6	24.1	3	1	5.55	16

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
Todd Jones	68	6	5	15	3.07	96
Dave Veres	72	5	1	1	2.26	94
Jim Dougherty	56	8	4	0	4.92	49
Dean Hartgraves	40	2	0	0	3.22	24
Pedro Martínez	25	0	0	0	7.40	17
Jeff Tabaka	24	1	0	0	2.22	19
Mike Henneman	21	0	1	8	3.00	19
John Hudek	19	2	2	7	5.40	29
Ross Powell	15	0	0	0	11.00	8
Craig McMurtry	11	0	1	0	7.84	4
John Cangelosi	1	0	0	0	0.00	0
Billy Wagner	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and achievements

Awards

• Associated Press (AP) All-Star—Second base: Craig Biggio^[10]
• Gold Glove Award at second base: Craig Biggio
• MLB All-Star Game—Starting second baseman: Craig Biggio
• NL Player of the Week^[11]
  • May 21—Craig Biggio
  • July 2—Derek Bell
  • July 30—Doug Drabek
• Silver Slugger Award at second base: Craig Biggio
• The Sporting News NL All-Star—Second base: Craig Biggio^[12]
• Topps All-Star Rookie Team—Shortstop: Orlando Miller

NL batting leaders

• Hit by pitch: Craig Biggio (22—led MLB)
• Plate appearances: Craig Biggio (673—led MLB)
• Runs scored: Craig Biggio (123—led MLB)

NL pitching leaders

• Games started: Doug Drabek (31)

Minor league system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tucson Toros	Pacific Coast League	Rick Sweet
AA	Jackson Generals	Texas League	Tim Tolman
A	Kissimmee Cobras	Florida State League	Dave Engle
A	Quad Cities River Bandits	Midwest League	Jim Pankovits
A-Short Season	Auburn Astros	New York–Penn League	Manny Acta
Rookie	GCL Astros	Gulf Coast League	Bobby Ramos

See also

• Texas portal
• Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders