1978 Houston Astros season


The 1978 Houston Astros season was the 17th season for the Major League Baseball franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 14th as the Astros, 17th in the National League, tenth in the NL West division, and 14th at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season having completed an 81–81 record for third place and 17 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
At Riverfront Stadium on April 6, J. R. Richard made his third of five consecutive Opening Day starts for Houston, who were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds, 11–9. The Astros' first round pick in the amateur draft was pitcher Rod Boxberger at 11th overall; in the second round, they chose outfielder Danny Heep.
Center fielder Terry Puhl was Astros' representative at the MLB All-Star Game and played for the National League, his lone career selection. Third baseman Eddie Mathews, who briefly played for Houston in 1967, became the second former Astro to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Astros concluded the season fifth in the NL West with a record of 74–88, 21 games behind Los Angeles, who repeated as both division champions and NL pennant winners. J. R. Richard became the first right-handed pitcher in National League history to reach 300 strikeouts, as well as the first Houston Astros pitcher to lead the league, with 303.

Offseason

Regular season

Summary

April

The Astros turned their first triple play on an Opening Day on April 6, and third in club history, Though the contest began auspiciously for Houston, they fell to the Cincinnati Reds, 11–9, at Riverfront Stadium. Terry Puhl cranked a home run to lead off the game and season, and César Cedeño and Joe Ferguson joined Puhl with longballs. During the bottom of the seventh, Joe Sambito relieved and struck out Dan Driessen. On a botched double steal, Ferguson gunned down George Foster, while Joe Morgan was caught in a rundown between second and third base to turn the triple play.
On April 26, Houston turned a triple play at Dodger Stadium, marking their second instance to have turned two within the same season, while being the first to occur within the same month. Simulating a Hollywood ending, catcher Joe Ferguson cranked a three-run home run in the top of the eighth to give Houston the lead. With Ken Forsch on during the bottom of the ninth, Bill Russell and Reggie Smith each singled, resulting in runners on first and second for Ron Cey. Cey slashed a liner to Bob Watson, which he snagged and stepped on first, and spun, rifled the ball to Roger Metzger, racing ahead of Russell to the bag to effectuate their trifecta, and ice an 8–6 triumph over the Los Angeles.

May

On May 20, José Cruz got the Astros off to fast start with a two-run first-inning bomb as they lifted off on the Atlanta Braves, 13–0. He never looked back, capturing both career highs of four hits and six runs batted in, and added a stolen base. Denny Walling connected for his first major league home run, and added three RBI. Enos Cabell collected three hits as Astros hitters struck out just once. In his second straight shutout, J. R. Richard was brilliant, striking out 8 to yield a game score of 80, while, at the plate, he added a hit, run scored and an RBI.
Three wild pitches in one inning on May 30 during an overwise gem of an outing by J. R. Richard set up the lone run of the contest to score as the San Francisco Giants prevailed, 1–0.

June

In spite of setting a new record as a team with 7 errors on June 12, the Astros' Jesús Alou hit a leadoff double to start a rally in the top of the eighth inning. The Astros followed with six runs scored that led to 6–5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

September

Richard surpassed Tom Seaver's record of 289 strikeouts on September 19, by whiffing the Braves' Bob Horner in the seventh inning. The strikeout record was for right-handers in the National League.
On September 28, J. R. Richard recorded his 300th strikeout of the season in a 4–3 win over the Braves, tallying six whiffs to get to 303. Richard became the first right-handed pitcher in National League history to achieve this milestone in one season, He also homered in the third inning off Larry McWilliams. The Astros rallied to win in the seventh inning with a double by Reggie Baldwin and a single by Rafael Landestoy.

Performance overview

The Astros concluded the 1978 season performance, in fifth place in the NL West, and trailing the NL pennant-winning Dodgers by 21 games. This represented a decline in performance by 7 wins and a drop from third place in the standings, from the year prior.
With 303 whiffs, J. R. Richard became the premier Astros pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts, and the first to reach 300-plus while establishing a new club record, supplanting the 235 by Don Wilson in 1969. Moreover, Richard become Houston's first three-time 200-strikeout moundsman.
Enos Cabell became the first Astro to play the full 162-game schedule, while establishing other single-season franchise records. including hits and at bats. His hits record stood until 1998 when Craig Biggio collected 210. Hence, Cabell was named the Houston Astros' team Most Valuable Player.
For the second consecutive season, Richard led the NL in hits per nine innings, the third time by an Astros pitcher.
Richard's 56 wins also led NL right-handers over the previous three seasons.

Notable transactions

Game log

Detailed records

MonthGamesWonLostWin %
April------
May------
June------
July------
August------
September------
October------
Total------

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
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C5115031.207722
1B139461133.2891479
2BArt Howe119420123.293755
SSRafael Landestoy5921858.26609
3BEnos Cabell162660195.295771
LF12024762.251336
CFTerry Puhl149585169.289335
RF153565178.3151083

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
7822352.233116
5019254.281723
Dave Bergman10418643.231012
Bruce Bochy5415441.266315
Luis Pujols5615320.131111
8414834.230113
Jimmy Sexton8814129.20626
7713945.312219
Roger Metzger4512327.22006
Mike Fischlin448610.11600
Reggie Baldwin386717.254111
17559.16402
Ed Herrmann16364.11100
Jeffrey Leonard82610.38504
Joe Cannon8184.22201
10173.17602

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
36275.018113.11303
33210.19143.9477
Joe Niekro35202.214143.8697
Vern Ruhle1368.0332.1227

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
30140.07113.9966
35110.2573.4255
28110.1394.8194
510.2014.222

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGWLSVERASO
Joe Sambito6249113.0796
5210672.7071
171204.6717
120125.0110
100006.008
100007.206
20000.002

Awards and achievements

;Career honors
;Annual awards
;Pitching achievements
Player
J. R. Richard30318–113.119.9

;Batting leaders
;Pitching leaders