Summary April The
Philadelphia Phillies hosted the Astros at
Citizens Bank Park for
Opening Day on April 1, where Philadelphia claimed a walk-off, 5-to-4 victory in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Brett Myers made his first Opening Day start for Houston, and was opposed by reigning
Cy Young Award winner
Roy Halladay. Halladay departed after six innings with six strikeouts and one run allowed. The Astros struck first off Halladay during the top of the sixth, highlighted by a
double from
Hunter Pence. Myers, meanwhile, kept the Phillies scoreless through six. The Astros scored thrice more the seventh, capped by
Michael Bourn's two-run
triple. The lead runner on the play was Myers, who also collected two
singles at the plate. The Phillies scored twice off Myers in the bottom of the seventh, who departed after that frame with Houston leading, 4–2.
Brandon Lyon entered in the bottom of the ninth for the Astros, still leading, 4–2.
Jimmy Rollins led off with a single,
pilfered a base, and scored the first run of the inning as the Phillies produced six singles while Lyon managed just one out. The Phillies tied the game, and
John Mayberry Jr. delivered a walk-off single that plated
Ben Francisco for the game-winning
run batted in (RBI). Following 11 seasons as an Astro, on April 26,
Lance Berkman made his first return to Minute Maid Park as a visitor. Now a
St. Louis Cardinal, Berkman received mainly applause. In the ninth inning, he ripped a go-ahead
double, only to see the home team mount a comeback and win in it the bottom of the ninth, 6–5.
May with the Astros during the 2010 season. The Astros announced on May 16 the sale of their team to a group of investors headed by
Jim Crane for the price of $680 million. The Astros dropped a contest to the
Atlanta Braves, 3–2, with Houston's record slipping to 15–26, worst in the National League. This date corresponded the approval of another sale of the team which took place in
1979. Starting May 19 at
Busch Stadium, outfielder
Hunter Pence struck a single to left field off
Kyle McClellan to launch a 23-game
hitting streak and energize one of the dreariest seasons in club annals. His streak continued through a June 13th victory over Atlanta. Though he struggled with lower back pain, the All-Star
batted .406 (39-for-96) with 19
runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, four home runs, and 19
runs batted in (RBI). The Astros posted a record of during Pence's streak to play above their season average. The seventh hitting streak in club history to span at least 23 bouts, Pence thumped for the longest since
Willy Taveras hit in a club-record 30 successive from July 27–August 27,
2006, while tying for fifth in the major leagues on the season.
Jordan Lyles made his major league debut on May 31, hurling seven clean innings over the
Chicago Cubs before his own error put him in line for the loss. The team proceeded to back him up, scoring six runs in the ninth to set up a 7–3 Astros victory.
July On July 19, the Astros promoted second base prospect
Jose Altuve to the major leagues, who started for the first time the following day versus the
Washington Nationals. Going 1-for-5 in his debut, Altuve
singled off
Tyler Clippard in the 9th inning for his first major league hit. After authoring a
hitting streak that accounted for each of his first seven games, on July 27, 2011, Altuve tied an Astros franchise record with
Russ Johnson for most successive games with a hit to start a career with 7, who accomplished his in
1997. On July 25,
Carlos Lee struck his seventh
grand slam as a member of the Houston Astros to establish a club record, which surpassed
Bob Aspromonte (
1963–
1966) and
Jeff Bagwell (
1998–
2004), with six each. Lee's blast was off a
P. J. Walters offering. Having previously connected for a grand slam off Walters on July 21,
2009, this batter—pitcher pairing of Lee and Walters made them the only opponents with more than one
plate appearance where each had resulted in a grand slam. It was also Lee's 16th career grand slam, placing him ninth all-time. Lee's blast had cut Houston's deficit to 8–5 to the Cardinals in the top of the eighth. Altuve smoked his first two major league
doubles, both off
Kyle McClellan. However,
Yadier Molina and
Colby Rasmus went deep, while Molina also doubled as the Redbirds sailed to a 10–5 victory. The Astros called up prospect
J. D. Martinez on July 29 to replace Pence, who had been traded to the Philadelphia. Martinez started 52 of the remaining 55 games in the outfield for Houston.
August On August 3, J. D. Martinez connected for his first major league home run, deep to off
Dontrelle Willis during the bottom of the first at Minute Maid Park to also score
Jason Bourgeois. Martinez also doubled and totaled three hits and four RBI to lead a 5–4 triumph over the
Cincinnati Reds.
Brian Bogusevic crushed his first major league home run on August 9, off
Jason Marquis of the
Arizona Diamondbacks at
Chase Field. Two batters prior to Bogusevic, J. D. Martinez had also homered. Carlos Lee walked, and Bogusevic followed with a deep drive to center field, increasing the Astros lead to 4–1. However, the Diamondbacks rallied. With two outs, the bases loaded in the eighth and Arizona leading, 9–8, right-hander
David Hernandez stuck out Bogusevic swinging. The Diamondbacks won, 11–9.
Brian Bogusevic' ultimate grand slam On August 16, pinch hitter
Brian Bogusevic hit the 26th
ultimate grand slam in major league history, and first in franchise history. Bogusevic connected off
Chicago Cubs reliever
Carlos Mármol for a 6–5 Houston victory. This was the Astros' lone
walk-off home run of 2011. His second major league home run, this was the first and only of either a grand slam or walk-off home run of Bogusevic' career. Leading off the bottom of the ninth,
Jimmy Paredes lined out to left field against Mármol. Shuck followed with a ground ball single to right field. With
Clint Barmes at the plate, Mármol threw a
wild pitch, and Shuck to advanced to second. Barmes then stroked line drive single to left field and Shuck went to third.
Matt Downs was inserted to pinch hit for Quintero and drew a walk to load the bases. Bogusevic then pinch hit for reliever
Aneury Rodríguez and went deep off Mármol to end the contest, 6–5. Prior to Bogusevic, Astros pinch hitters to have belted walk-off grand slams included
Milt May on May 22,
1974, and
Gregg Zaun on June 27,
2002. Carlos Lee had blasted the most-recent walk-off grand slam on June 28,
2007. Two other ultimate grand slams were hit in 2011; hence, it became the first campaign in major league history where as many as three ultimate grand slams transpired. Bogusevic was preceded by
Travis Hafner of the
Cleveland Indians on July 7, 2011, and succeeded by
Ryan Roberts of the Diamondbacks on September 27, 2011. With a 13-strikeout performance on August 29,
Wandy Rodríguez became the fourth
southpaw in club history to achieve this. Rodríguez' (10–9) effort induced a 7–4 defeat of the
Pittsburgh Pirates, including
striking out the side in the second and fourth innings. In the top of the fourth,
Andrew McCutchen homered, and
Ryan Doumit doubled in
Neil Walker for a 3–0 Pirates lead. Rodríguez then pivoted to getting a swinging whiff each of
Brandon Wood,
Chase d'Arnaud, and
Ross Ohlendorf. During the bottom of the fourth, Brian Bogusevic doubled in J. D. Martinez to push through Houston's first tally,
Jordan Schafer singled in a run in the fifth, and in the seventh, Martinez procured an RBI
fielder's choice prior to Carlos Lee connecting for a three-run blast (6 to 3, Astros), as the Astros held on for the triumph. For the month of August, also his first in the major leagues, outfielder J. D. Martinez collected 28 RBI to set a franchise rookie record for any month, while ranking second in the National League. This was the Astros' final victory of the season.
Performance overview The Astros concluded the 2011 campaign with a 56–106 record, for sixth and last place within the NL Central, trailing the division-champion
Milwaukee Brewers by 40 games. The Astros' record was also the worst in the National League. The 106 defeats signaled the first season in franchise history with 100 or more, shattering the previous record of 97 shared by the
1965,
1975, and
1991 squads. With their win total plummeting by 20, this represented the largest downturn since
1999–
2000 with 25. The total of number of defeats during their penultimate campaign in the National League grew the following season. The Astros hit 95 home runs as a team, the first time since
1992 in which they hit fewer than 100 home runs.
Season standings National League Central National League Wild Card Record vs. opponents Detailed record Roster Game log ==Player stats==