1977 Houston Astros season

April

On April 8, J. R. Richard made his second Opening Day start for Houston,^[9] who hosted the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta bolted a 2–0 lead in the top of the first when Jeff Burroughs clobbered a two-run home run deep to left off Richard. During the bottom of the first, José Cruz punched a sacrifice fly that plated Julio González. Braves Opening Day starter Andy Messersmith equally matched his counterpart, as both he and Richard tossed nine innings of two-run ball. Leading of the top of the 11th opposing Bob Johnson, Astros catcher Joe Ferguson golfed a walk-off home run to win the contest for the Astros, 3–2. Ken Forsch tossed two shutout frames to earn the victory.^[10] Ferguson's home run was the second of his career, on both an Opening Day (first was on April 6, 1973), and walk-off (June 22, 1974).^[11] This victory was the fifth of a five-Opening Day winning streak, one that remained a club record until 2018.^[12]

May

Second baseman Art Howe connected for two home runs on May 25 to lead a 7–6 decision over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Teammate Julio González factored greatly into the win by collecting four hits.^[13]

Bob Watson's cycle

On June 24, Bob Watson tripled, doubled, and hit a home run against the San Francisco Giants. In the eighth inning, he singled to hit for the cycle, and became the second player in franchise history to do so. Part of a five-RBI performance, this led the Astros to a 6–5 win. Watson became the first in major league to hit for the cycle so in both the NL and the American League (AL).^[a][14][15]

Watson's cycle took place the season after teammate César Cedeño hit for his second, who also hit the first two cycles in club history. The next cycle by an Astros player was by Andújar Cedeño on August 25, 1992.^[16]

August—September

Starting August 25, César Cedeño authored a 22-game hitting streak to establish a new club mark while breaking the record of 21 games set by Lee May on June 21, 1973. Cedeño's performance included contrasting phases of productivity, with one hit each over the first nine games for a .257 batting average (9-for-35). However, in the following nine games, Cedeño exploded, going 22-for-41 (.537 average), nine extra-base hits, for a 1.024 slugging percentage.^[17]

Overall, Cedeño hit .398 (37-for-98) during the hitting streak, while his baserunning accelerated to a fervent pace with 21 stolen bases.^[17] The 22-game hitting streak represented the longest of Cedeño's career.^[18] The year before, from April 17–May 14, 1976, Cedeño had also put together a 19-game hitting streak. Thus, he became the first individual in Astros history to collect two or more hitting streaks of 19 games or more. Cedeño's record stood until teammate Art Howe hit in 23 straight from May 1 to 24, 1981.^[17]

On September 4, Bob Watson connected for his fifth career grand slam.^[19] Watson also doubled and had five RBI to lead a 7–1 win over the Montreal Expos. Joe Niekro (11–5) cruised to a complete game, scattered five hits, and at the plate, collected two hits and an RBI.^[20] Watson ranked second in club history at the time to Bob Aspromonte, who had six between 1963 and 1966; they had been the only Colt .45s/Astros players to hit as many as four.^[21]

César Cedeño was recognized as National League (NL) Player of the Week for September 11.^[b][22] The Astros won five of seven games, during which, Cedeño hit .400 (12-for30), .733 slugging percentage, six runs scored, three doubles, two triples, one home run, and seven RBI.^[23]

On September 12 and 13, Cedeño collected back-to-back four-hit games against the Cincinnati Reds, hitting two three home runs, two triples, and five runs batted in (RBI).^[17] He became the fourth player in team history to record four hits each over consecutive games, succeeding Wilbur Howard on August 23 and 24, 1975.^[c][24]

The following week ended September 18, over six games, Cedeño netted a .500 batting average (14-for-28), nine runs scored, one double, two triples, three home runs, and six RBI.^[23]

October

On the final day of the regular season, October 2, Los Angeles took Astros starter J. R. Richard deep three times at Dodger Stadium, the first time in 147 games and 130 starts for the hard-throwing, 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) right-handed Louisiana native.^[25][26]

In fact, like a lightning strike, all 3 Dodger blasts arrived in the sixth inning via offerings to Manny Mota, Dusty Baker, and Glenn Burke. Baker's and Burke's bombs were consecutive. At the time, this gave Los Angeles a 3–1 advantage.^[27]

The Dodgers' home runs carried extra significance, in that, Mota, who was pinch hitting, hit the final of his major league career. Burke's was one of his two major league home runs. Baker, meanwhile, mashed his 30th jack for the first time. For Los Angeles baseball, this was a club-record 15th consecutive game heralding the long ball,^[28] and their fourth hitter with at least 30 home runs, the first time this was accomplished by any major league team. As Baker reached home plate following the blast, Burke greeted him his hand held high, who instinctively raised his hand to hit Burke's palm, creating the high five, speculated to have been the moment it was invented.^{[Note 1][29][30]}

However, the Astros lineup did not allow Richard to forget their own power capabilities. Watson commenced the scoring in the first with a single to score Cedeño, then, in fourth, hit his 22nd dinger of the season. The inning after the Dodgers' three home runs, Cedeño singled in José Cruz. With the bases full—including Enos Cabell, Cedeño, and Watson—Denny Walling then tripled to drove home everyone. This raised the score went 6–3 Houston, which is how it remained. Cedeño and Cabell also doubled. Each of the top four of Houston order had multi-hit efforts (Cruz 2, Cabell 2, Cedeñp 3 and Watson 2). The win got Houston to the .500 mark (81–81).^[27]

Richard whiffed 14 Dodgers, a season-high.^[31] This was Richard's second-highest total for one game, following his major league debut with 15 punchouts on September 5, 1971.^[25] Richard also notched his 13th complete game, and earned his 18th win of the season to follow-up his first 20-win season the year prior.^[26]

César Cedeño was recognized with NL Player of the Month honors for September–October.^[32] Over 28 games, he batted .417 (50-for-120) / .425 on-base percentage / .692 slugging percentage / 1.117 on-base plus slugging (OPS), 28 runs scored, 83 total bases, 10 doubles, and 16 stolen bases.^[33] Moreover, Cedeño set a club record by becoming the first batter to attain 50 hits in a single month, which surpassed the effort of 49 by Rusty Staub in July 1967.^[d][34]

Meanwhile, during the month of September—October, Bob Watson became the first Astros player to collect 30 or more RBI during any calendar month, passing the club record of 29 by Jimmy Wynn in June, 1969.^[e][35]

Performance overview

The Astros concluded the 1977 season with a performance of 81–81 (.500), in third place in the NL West, and trailing division champion and NL pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers by 17 games.^[36] The club maintained third place with one-game improvement from the year before. The Astros' fifth season with a record of .500 or above—all since 1969—it their third campaign concluded in third place, at the time matching their best for any season. They would finish higher than third for the first time in 1979.^[2]

Six Astros hitters reached double-figures in home runs to establish a club record, formerly five in 1969 and replicated in four the next five campaigns.^[f][37] Houston led the National League in triples in 1977 while ranking second to the Pittsburgh Pirates with 187 stolen bases.^[36] Three Astros reached the 40-stolen base plateau, including César Cedeño (61), José Cruz (44), and Enos Cabell (42). Cedeño's total set a new club single-season, exceeding his own mark set just the year before (58),^[38] while extending another club-record sixth of six uninterrupted campaigns with at least 50 steals.^[g] This was the first time in club history that the Astros had rostered as many as three 40-stolen base bandits, and the ninth of a franchise-record nine consecutive featuring at least one player with that coup.^[h][39]

Moreover, Cedeño became the second major leaguer during the modern era (since 1900) to record six consecutive seasons with 50 or more stolen bases, following Lou Brock (12 consecutive from 1965 to 1976). Cedeño also became the sixth player to garner 50 stolen bases over any span of six campaigns since 1900, following Bert Campaneris as also having been the most recent prior to Cedeño (seven between the 1965 to 1976 seasons).^[i][40]

In addition to setting the record for RBI over a calendar month, Watson also set a new club record over a full saason with 110 RBI, surpassing Jimmy Wynn's achievement set in 1967 (107).^[j][38] Watson cranked his fifth career grand slam on September 4, 1977, second in Colt .45s/Astros history to Bob Aspromonte (six).^[21]

Richard garnered 214 strikeouts for the second consecutive season, at the time, matching his career-high set just the year prior.^[26] He also became Houston's first multiple-season 200-strikeout moundsman.^[k][41]

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts