Summary April On April 8,
J. R. Richard made his second
Opening Day start for Houston, 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. 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). This victory was the fifth of a five-Opening Day
winning streak, one that remained a club record until
2018.
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.
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). 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.
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. He had back-to-back four-hit games against the
Cincinnati Reds, hitting two three home runs, two
triples, and five
runs batted in (RBI). Cedeño was recognized as National League (NL) Player of the Week for September 11. Overall, Cedeño hit .398 (37-for-98) during the hitting streak, while his baserunning accelerated, with incredible 21
stolen bases. 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 1–24,
1981.
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, right-handed
Louisiana native. 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. 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, 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. 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). This was Richard's second-highest total for one game, following his major league debut with 15 punchouts on September 5,
1971.
Performance overview The Astros concluded the 1977 season with a performance of , in third place in the NL West, and trailing division champion and NL
pennant-winning
Los Angeles Dodgers by 17 games. 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. Houston led the National League in
triples in 1977 while ranking second to the
Pittsburgh Pirates with 187
stolen bases. while extending another club-record sixth of six uninterrupted campaigns with at least 50 steals. 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. 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). 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).
Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions • June 7, 1977:
Scott Loucks was drafted by the Astros in the 5th round of the
1977 Major League Baseball draft. • June 15, 1977:
Willie Crawford was traded by the Astros to the
Oakland Athletics for
Denny Walling.
Roster == Game log ==