HOUSTON -- The Astros, in their long history, have never had a player hit four home runs in a game. Perhaps nobody has come closer, though, than Vinny Castilla, who slugged three homers on July 28, 2001, in the first game of a doubleheader at Pittsburgh.
Castilla hit a solo homer in the second inning, a three-run homer in the fifth and a solo homer in the eighth. Houston frittered away an 8-2 lead in the ninth inning, and Brian Giles hit a walk-off grand slam off Billy Wagner to complete a stunning comeback. It was also Giles who robbed Castilla of what would have been a fourth home run when he made a leaping catch at the left-field wall in the fourth inning.
Castilla’s big day at the plate remains one of the greatest single-game hitting performances in club history. But is it good enough to be considered one of the top five?
Here are the top five single-game hitting performances in Astros history:
1. Jose Altuve
Oct. 5, 2017, vs. Red Sox
The Astros’ march to the 2017 World Series championship began with an electrifying performance by Altuve in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Red Sox. Altuve, the American League MVP that year, became the ninth player in Major League history to hit three home runs in a playoff game, leading Houston to an 8-2 win.
Altuve capped his legendary game when he hit a 1-1 pitch from reliever Austin Maddox and sailed it over the left-field wall to mark the 13th time an Astros player hit three homers in a game -- the first since Carlos Lee on April 13, 2007, at Philadelphia. Altuve was the first player to hit three homers in a playoff game since Pablo Sandoval did it for the Giants in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series.
"Obviously, I was thinking that it feels really good, another run, supporting my team, but in the personal side, it's kind of like crazy," Altuve said. "I never hit three homers, so this, what happened today, is new for me, and I'm really happy that it happened in a playoff game."
Altuve went 3-for-4 with 12 total bases, which was one shy of tying the club record.
2. Jeff Bagwell
June 24, 1994, vs. Dodgers
In the middle of his remarkable National League MVP campaign in 1994, Bagwell went 4-for-5 with three home runs -- including two in one inning -- six RBIs and a club-record-tying 13 total bases in the Astros’ 16-4 win over the Dodgers at the Astrodome.
Bagwell homered twice in the sixth inning during a nine-run outburst by the Astros and added a solo shot in the final at-bat in the eighth. He became the first Astros player to homer two times in an inning since Lee May in 1974. The club’s all-time leader in homers, Bagwell homered three times in a game twice in the 1999 season and remains the only Astros player to do that three times.
3. Yordan Alvarez
Aug. 10, 2019, at Baltimore
En route to being named unanimous AL Rookie of the Year, Alvarez put on a show in Baltimore by going 3-for-5 with three of Houston’s six homers, four runs, seven RBIs and 12 total bases in Houston’s 23-2 bashing of the Orioles.
Alvarez’s performance -- which featured a solo homer in the first, a grand slam in the seventh and a two-run homer off Orioles center fielder Stevie Wilkerson in the ninth -- led an Astros onslaught in which they set franchise records for most runs and extra-base hits (13) in a game.
4. Joe Morgan
July 8, 1965, at Milwaukee Braves
The future Hall of Famer set a club record by collecting six hits, going 6-for-6 with four runs scored, two home runs and three RBIs in a 9-8 loss in 12 innings to the Braves in Milwaukee. His 13 total bases set a club record that has been matched only three times since -- Bagwell in 1994, Morgan Ensberg in 2005 and Lee May in 1974.
The only other Astros player to have six hits in a game is George Springer on May 7, 2018.
5. Yordan Alvarez
Sept. 16, 2022 vs. Athletics
Alvarez bashed three homers in a game for the second time in his career, hitting his 34th, 35th and 36th of the season at Minute Maid Park to help the Astros clinch a playoff spot.
The power surge started early, as he hit a solo homer to center field in the first inning at an exit velocity of 110.5 mph. Alvarez was nowhere near finished, as he clubbed two more solo moonshots to center field in his next two at-bats. Right-hander Adrián Martinez yielded all three homers. Alvarez became the first player in franchise history to hit three home runs off the same pitcher in a game and the first Astro with a three-homer game since George Springer on Sept. 22, 2019.
“It’s special, hitting one homer in a game. So imagine three,” Alvarez said. “I didn’t take a lot of swings in the cages or go out to do BP, and then I go out to do that. It was a special night for me.”