1990 Houston Astros season
The 1990 Houston Astros season was the 29th season for the Major League Baseball franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 26th as the Astros, 29th in the National League, 22nd in the NL West division, and 26th at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season having posted a record of 86–76 for third place in the NL West, six games behind the division-champion and NL [List of National League (baseball)|National League pennant winners|pennant]-winning San Francisco Giants.
On April 9, pitcher Mike Scott made his fourth Opening Day start for Houston, who hosted the [1990 1990 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds], but were defeated, 8–4. In the amateur draft, the Astros' first round selections included shortstop Tom Nevers and pitcher Brian Williams .
Pitcher Dave Smith earned his second career MLB All-Star selection, representing the Astros and playing for the National League. Second baseman Joe Morgan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, at the time the longest-tenured former, and earliest, member of the Colt.45s/Astro to receive this honor. He started his major league career with Houston in 1963 and played 10 of his 22 major league seasons for the franchise. Pitcher Danny Darwin, who worked primarily out of the bullpen, was the NL earned run average leader, the third ERA title by an Astros pitcher within the previous five seasons.
The Astros concluded the season with a 75–87 record, tied for fourth place with the San Diego Padres and 16 games behind the division- and World Series-champion Reds. The 87 losses were the most for Houston since 1978.
Offseason
- December 6, 1989: Bill Gullickson was signed as a free agent by the Astros.
- December 19, 1989: Dan Schatzeder was signed as a free agent by the Astros.
- March 13, 1990: Dave Silvestri and a player to be named later were traded by the Astros to the New York Yankees for Orlando Miller. The Astros completed the deal by sending Daven Bond to the Yankees on June 11.
Regular season
Summary
April
Hosting the Cincinnati Reds for Opening Day on April 9—also the event for the 25th anniversary since the opening of the Astrodome—the Astros built a 4–2 lead in the bottom of the second inning. However, Cincinnati came back to drop the Astros, 8–4. The most pain went to first baseman Glenn Davis, who was hit by pitch three times, which tied a major-league record. Right-hander Mike Scott made his fourth Opening Day start, joining Larry Dierker and J. R. Richard to have done so as the starting pitcher. Shortstop Rafael Ramírez attained his fourth bout of four hits as a member of the Astros.May
On May 17, Houston outfielder Eric Anthony launched the first-ever home run by a member of the home team into the upper reserve seating at the Astrodome, a monster blast in the eighth inning during a 5–4 win over the Chicago Cubs. Ken Oberkfell cranked a sacrifice fly in the eleventh inning to score Ken Caminiti for the game-winning run. Anthony's drive came off Mike Bielecki. The only previous home run that had landed in the first upper deck was launched by Bernie Carbo of the Reds in 1970.On May 26, the Cubs hosted the Astros at Wrigley Field for their first doubleheader since July 7, 1979. The Astros swept, led by Glenn Davis homering thrice over the two games to tie a club record for a doubleheader, set by Román Mejías, on May 6, 1962, against the Milwaukee Braves. Davis was 6-for-9 with 9 runs batted in. In the opener, Mike Scott tossed his first complete game of the season. Jim Deshaies started the second contest and allowed six hits over innings to earn the win, while Larry Andersen closed out the final innings for his second save.
June
Astros slugger Glenn Davis connected for three home runs and five runs batted in in one game on June 1. That was nearly enough offense for Houston, who managed just two additional hits, though they worked six walks. Davis homered in each of the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings. San Francisco scored thrice in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, 4–4. Davis' final shot gave the Astros the lead, 5–4; however, in the bottom of the eighth, Will Clark singled home Brett Butler to tie the score. In the bottom of the 12th, Greg Litton. It was the second time that he had hit three home runs in a game during his career, and the fourth time overall by a Houston Astro.Mike Scott's 15-strikeout game
Mike Scott tossed both a career-best 10-inning complete game and 15 strikeouts on June 8, a three-hitter which was his 12th complete game of three hits or fewer. After exchanging shutout ball with Tom Browning for nine innings, the Cincinnati Reds broke through in the top of the 10th inning on an RBI single. by Todd Benzinger to score Barry Larkin. During the bottom of the tenth, Ken Caminiti whiffed against Randy Myers before Eric Anthony drew a base on balls, who was replaced by Louie Meadows. Rafael Ramírez singled on ground ball to left. One out later, Glenn Wilson smoked a walk-off home run to right fieldfor a 3–1 Houston win. Scott's effort earned a game score of 96.In the bottom of the first, Scott struck out the side, all swinging, He followed that up by registering a pair of whiffs in each of the next two frames. Scott retired each hitter during the initial rotation through the order while peppering 26 of the first 30 offerings for strikes. This performance eclipsed the previous career high of 14 attained three times.
September
On September 21, Houston turned the sixth triple play in club history, doing so in the bottom of the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves. During the bottom of the fourth, David Justice and Jim Presley opened with consecutive singles off Jim Deshaies. Francisco Cabrera hit a grounder to Ken Caminiti, who made the forceout at third, rifled to Dave Rohde at second, who relayed to Mike Simms at first to complete the play. During the top of the sixth, Eric Anthony slugged a three-run home run. The Braves came back to tie the game, 3–3, during the bottom of the ninth. However, Simms slugged the game-winning home run for Houston in the top of the tenth.Performance overview
The Astros concluded the season with a 75–87 record, tied for fourth place with the San Diego Padres, and 16 games behind the division- and World Series-champion Reds. A decline by 11 wins from the year prior, the 87 losses were the most for Houston since 1978.The Astros played in 27 extra-inning games, tying a league record.
Danny Darwin led the National League in earned run average, to become the third Houston Astro within the previous five years to attain the ERA title, following Scott in 1986 and Nolan Ryan in 1987. This was the fifth ERA title overall in franchise history. Darwin, who made 31 of 48 total appearances out of the bullpen, also led the major leagues in walks plus hits per inning pitched.
Left fielder Franklin Stubbs set a club record for home runs by a left-handed batter, with 23.
Notable transactions
- April 3, 1990: Roger Mason was released by the Houston Astros.
- August 21, 1990: Signed outfielder Bobby Abreu as amateur free agent.
- August 30, 1990: Pitcher Larry Andersen was traded by the Astros to the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Jeff Bagwell.
- August 30, 1990: Bill Doran was traded by the Houston Astros to the Cincinnati Reds for players to be named later.
- September 10, 1990: Dan Schatzeder was traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for Nick Davis and Steve LaRose.
- September 7, 1990: Butch Henry was sent by the Cincinnati Reds to the Houston Astros to complete an earlier deal made on August 30, 1990. Catcher Terry McGriff was also sent by the Cincinnati Reds to complete the deal.
Game log
Detailed records
| Month | Games | Won | Lost | Win % | ||
| 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| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | 150 | 555 | 153 | .276 | 4 | 42 | |
| 1B | 93 | 327 | 82 | .251 | 22 | 64 | |
| 2B | 109 | 344 | 99 | .288 | 6 | 32 | |
| 3B | 153 | 541 | 131 | .242 | 4 | 51 | |
| SS | 132 | 445 | 116 | .261 | 2 | 37 | |
| LF | 146 | 448 | 117 | .261 | 23 | 71 | |
| CF | 142 | 511 | 130 | .254 | 1 | 20 | |
| RF | 118 | 368 | 90 | .245 | 10 | 55 |
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 |
| 130 | 262 | 75 | .286 | 3 | 22 | |
| 84 | 239 | 46 | .192 | 10 | 29 | |
| Gerald Young | 57 | 154 | 27 | .175 | 1 | 4 |
| Ken Oberkfell | 77 | 150 | 31 | .207 | 1 | 12 |
| Mark Davidson | 57 | 130 | 38 | .292 | 1 | 11 |
| Rich Gedman | 40 | 104 | 21 | .202 | 1 | 10 |
| Dave Rohde | 59 | 98 | 18 | .184 | 0 | 5 |
| Tuffy Rhodes | 38 | 86 | 21 | .244 | 1 | 3 |
| 30 | 77 | 21 | .273 | 1 | 10 | |
| Alex Treviño | 42 | 69 | 13 | .188 | 1 | 10 |
| 32 | 49 | 10 | .204 | 1 | 11 | |
| Terry Puhl | 37 | 41 | 12 | .293 | 0 | 8 |
| Luis Gonzalez | 12 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 0 |
| Louie Meadows | 15 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 13 | 4 | .308 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jeff Baldwin | 7 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Terry McGriff | 4 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 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 |
| Jim Deshaies | 34 | 209.1 | 7 | 12 | 3.78 | 119 |
| Mike Scott | 32 | 205.2 | 9 | 13 | 3.81 | 121 |
| Mark Portugal | 32 | 196.2 | 11 | 10 | 3.62 | 136 |
| 32 | 193.1 | 10 | 14 | 3.82 | 73 | |
| 1 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 2 |
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 |
| Danny Darwin | 48 | 162.2 | 11 | 4 | 2.21 | 109 |
| 33 | 76.0 | 2 | 8 | 6.51 | 44 | |
| Randy Hennis | 3 | 9.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 |
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 | 49 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 2.39 | 50 |
| 82 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 4.29 | 50 | |
| 50 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1.95 | 68 | |
| 45 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.39 | 37 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.62 | 24 | |
| Brian Meyer | 14 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2.21 | 6 |
| Al Osuna | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 6 |
| Charlie Kerfeld | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16.20 | 4 |
| Brian Fisher | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | 1 |
Awards and achievements
;Career honors;Annual awards
- Fred Hartman Award for Long and Meritorious Service to Baseball: Allen Russell
- Houston-Area Major League Player of the Year: Doug Drabek
- Houston Astros Most Valuable Player Award: Danny Darwin
- Lou Gehrig Memorial Award: Glenn Davis
- MLB All-Star—Reserve pitcher: Dave Smith
- NL Player of the Week:
- * April 15—Craig Biggio
- * September 16—Bill Doran
- * September 30—Franklin Stubbs
- NL Pitcher of the Month —July: Danny Darwin
;NL pitching leaders