Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.

Kerry Lee Wood is an American former baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Wood first came to prominence as a 20-year-old rookie, when he recorded 20 strikeouts in a one-hit shutout against the Houston Astros, which some have argued may be the greatest single-game pitching performance in MLB history. The game also made Wood the co-holder of the MLB record for strikeouts in a single game (20) and earned Wood the nickname "Kid K". He was later named the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year.

The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in Texas; the Texas Rangers belong to the same division. Based in Daikin Park, the team's name reflects Houston's role as the host of the Johnson Space Center.

William Roger Clemens, nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and also played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros. He was one of the most dominant pitchers in major league history, tallying 354 wins, a 3.12 earned run average (ERA), and 4,672 strikeouts, the third-most all time. An 11-time MLB All-Star and two-time World Series champion, Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, more than any other pitcher in history. Clemens was known for his fierce competitive nature and hard-throwing pitching style, which he used to intimidate batters.