Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX
April 4, 2007

Introduction

Major League Baseball game stories can work on three possible levels. All major-league games work as stand-alone stories which start at the beginning of the game and end at the conclusion of the game with a definitive ending: we know who won that game and by what score. But major-league games also work as part of the story of the specific season in which they are played. For teams in contention a single game is step toward - or away from - the final ending of where the team finished at the end of the season. Finally, major-league games also work as part of broader histories - of major-league baseball itself or of specific teams or of specific players.

The game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros on April 4, 2007 fits, I think, into this third category. The Pirates and Astros had been medicore (or arguably worse, in the case of the Pirates) in 2006 and would be mediocre (or worse) again in 2007. This was the third game of the season for both teams, which can be a time where everybody has hope, but can also be a time where it's too early to really get a feel for how good teams are or where the season is going.

But there was one thing about the 2007 season that the folks in Houston knew was likely to happen. The 2007 season was the final season in the career of Astros franchise icon Craig Biggio, who entered the season with 2,930 career hits. Barring injury - and Craig Biggio had only missed significant playing time to injury once in his major-league career (he played 101 games in 2000 at the age of 34) - Biggio was poised to become the 27th player in major-league history to collect 3,000 hits in his career. Ultimately, the most significant feature of this game was probably its position as a step along Biggio's path to 3,000 hits.

Of course, as I said above, all games work as stand-alone stories. So there's that too. The following game story is not merely a recitation of Craig Biggio's at bats and whether they resulted in hits. It's also a recitation of a baseball game where two teams did battle for (at least) nine innings trying to score more runs than their opponent.

So let's begin.

As noted above, this was the third game of the major-league season for both the Pirates and Astros - the Pirates having won the first two games of this season-opening three-game series. Because it was only the third game of the season, both starting pitchers were making their first starts of the 2007 season. For the Pirates, the starting pitcher was Tom Gorzelanny who had gone 2-5 with a 3.79 ERA in 11 starts in 2006. The 2007 season would be the first full season in the 24-year-old Gorzelanny's major-league career. The starting pitcher for the Houston Astros was at the opposite end of his career. The 2007 season was the final season in the 15-year career of 40-year-old Woody Williams. Williams had a fine, but somewhat shortened, 2006 season finishing with a record of 12-5 and a 3.65 ERA, giving him 124 career wins in a season that had been highlighted by an 18-win All-Star season in 2003.

First Inning

Chris Duffy got things started with a double to left field. Jack Wilson sacrified him to third. But Jason Bay grounded to the shortstop, Duffy unable to score on the play, and, after a walk to Adam LaRoche, Ronny Paulino hit into a force play to end the inning.

Craig Biggio led off the bottom of the first inning with a single up the middle, the 2,932nd hit of his career. Chris Burke forced him and stole second after Lance Berkman had struck out. Carlos Lee shot a single up the middle, scoring Burke with the first run of the game. Lee stole second base but Morgan Ensberg struck out to end the inning.

Second Inning

Xavier Nady opened the top of the second inning with a double to right field.

The next batter was a 26-year-old utility man who was most famous at that time for having played for four different teams in his rookie season (2004). He would be traded to his fifth major-league team during the 2008 season and two years after that, in 2010, he would have one of the more remarkable break-out seasons in major-league history, when Jose Bautista led the major leagues with 54 home runs.

Meanwhile, back in 2007, Bautista doubled to center field, scoring Nagy with the tying run. The next three batters were retired, however, and the score remained tied at one.

Third Inning

The Pirates threatened to take the lead in the top of the third. Jack Wilson led off with a single. A single by Adam LaRoche put runners on first and third with one out. Ronny Paulino flied out for the second out. But Woody Williams hit Xavier Nagy with a pitch to load the bases and bring up Bautista. But he could not match his second-inning double; instead, he flew out to right field and the inning was over with the score still tied 1-1.

Biggio led off the bottom of the third inning. He hit a ground ball that Pirates third baseman Jose Bautista was able to field but Biggio beat the throw to first for his second hit of the game and the 2,933rd hit of his career. Chris Burke singled Biggio to third and a Lance Berkman sacrifice fly scored Biggio, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. Gorzelanny bore down and struck out Carlos Lee and Morgan Ensberg to end the inning.

Fourth Inning

Williams had no trouble in the top of the fourth inning.

The bottom of the fourth inning opened auspiciously as Pirates second baseman Jose Castillo dropped Jason Lane's pop-up. Adam Everett and Humberto Quintero singled to load the bases with no outs. Woody Williams popped out to Castillo - who successfully caught this one.

This brought Biggio to bat with the bases loaded and only one out. Biggio, however, popped out to first baseman Adam LaRoche for the second out of the inning.

Having gotten so close to escaping the bases-loaded, no out situation, though, Tom Gorzelanny couldn't escape entirely as he hit Chris Burke with a pitch, forcing home the Astros' third run of the game. Berkman ended the inning by hitting into a force play but the Astros had extended their lead to 3-1 through four innings.

Fifth Inning

Jason Bay led off the top of the fifth inning with an infield single. Adam LaRoche flied out. But Ronnie Paulino doubled to center field, scoring Bay.

Xavier Nady hit a fly ball to center field that was dropped by Burke, Paulino taking third base while Nady reached second base. Bautista promptly singled home both runners to give the Pirates the lead, 4-3.

Jose Castillo grounded out for the second out of the inning. But Gorzelanny worked a walk, ending Williams's day. The new pitcher was Dave Borkowski. Borkowski did his job, getting Chris Duffy to hit a ground ball to shortstop Adam Everett. But Everett booted the ball and Bautista raced home from second base with the fourth run of the inning. Borkowski decided not to trust his fielders and struck out Jack Wilson to end the inning.

Given a lead for the first time, Tom Gorzelanny held it with a strong fifth inning, working around a one-out single by Morgan Ensberg. And the Astros led 5-3 at the end of five innings of play.

Sixth - Eighth Innings

The sixth inning saw a pair of 1-2-3 innings, most notable because the sixth and final out of the inning was made by Biggio, now 2-for-4 on the day.

The seventh and eighth innings were only slightly more exciting than the seventh. The Pirates wasted one-out singles in both innings while Shawn Chacon pitched his second 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and Matt Capps added a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Ninth Inning

And so, the game moved to the ninth inning with the Pirates holding a 5-3 lead. Chris Sampson completed a three-inning, no runs allowed relief performance for the Astros with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

The Pirates brought out their closer, Salomon Torres, who already had two saves in the Pirates' first two games of the season, to try to hold their two-run lead and improve to 3-0 on the season.

Torres's first two appearances of the season had resulted in a pair of perfect 1-2-3 innings. And he picked right up there in this game, retiring pinch hitter Mark Loretta on strikes and pinch hitter Mike Lamb on a pop-up to second base, giving Torres 8 batters retired out of 8 batters faced on the 2007 season.

That brought up Craig Biggio, who was 2-for-4 so far on the game with his two hits having set up two of the Astros' three runs. Biggio wasn't ready to call it a game, hitting a line drive over the left field fence for the 282nd home run of his career and the Astros were within a run.

Alas, the next batter, Chris Burke, struck out and the game was over. Final score: Pirates 5, Astros 4.

Game Summary

Craig Biggio ended play on April 4, 2007 with 2,934 hits. Biggio's 2007 season was a mixed bag - one significant career achievement in the midst of a mediocre (to be kind) season for both Biggio and the Astros. A little like this game, where Biggio's three hits ended up not mattering a whole lot as the Astros lost the game. Biggio got his 3,000th hit on June 28, 2007, in which he became the first player to get 5 hits in the game in which he got his 3,000th hit. After missing election by four votes the previous season, Biggio was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play