On this day, 16 years ago, Houston rode a solid start by Greg Swindell to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Expos in Olympic Stadium.
Swindell threw six innings, allowing four hits, one run, one walk and four strikeouts. He only threw 89 pitches and hit quite a few strikes in there. The most interesting thing about his start was that he got 14 fly balls and four ground balls. To have that much success with that many fly balls is very surprising, but very indicative of the park he was in. Much like the Astrodome, Olympic Stadium was a big, wide, cookie-cutter ballpark that gobbled up fly balls.
The offensive star was Tony Eusebio, who was 2 for 3 with a double, three RBIs, a walk and a run scored. Jeff Bagwell was also 2 for 5 while Brian Hunter was 2 for 4 with two stolen bases and was hit by a pitch. The only regular in this game for Houston not to get a hit was shortstop Craig Shipley.
What jumped out to me, looking over this box score is how many future or past Astros were playing for the Expos. Butch Henry, Montreal's starter, was drafted by Houston and played there in 1992. Dave Veres, one of Houston's relievers, also went from the Astros to the Expos. Sean Berry and Moises Alou both appeared in the game for Montreal, but were a few years away from playing for Houston, too.
Here's a graphic replay of the game, thanks to Back to Baseball.