León Homers Three Times As Space Cowboys Lose Shootout With Chihuahuas
A three-homer effort from Pedro León helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (47-66, 14-24) battle back in a high-scoring 18-11 loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas (50-63, 18-20) on Saturday night at Southwest University Park. El Paso struck for five runs in the bottom of the first, sending nine men
A three-homer effort from Pedro León helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (47-66, 14-24) battle back in a high-scoring 18-11 loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas (50-63, 18-20) on Saturday night at Southwest University Park.
El Paso struck for five runs in the bottom of the first, sending nine men to the plate and using three doubles, a single and a walk to go up 5-0.
León kicked off the comeback attempt for the Space Cowboys in the top of the second, connecting for a 418-foot solo shot to left, his 17th home run of the season. Sugar Land loaded the bases with two outs on three walks but left them full.
RHP Brandon Bielak (L, 1-2) hurled a 1-2-3 second inning and the Space Cowboys were able to bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the third. León launched his second home run of the night, a solo shot to left, making it a 5-2 contest. Shay Whitcomb walked and Bligh Madris singled, putting men on the edges, but a soft lineout to short stunted the Sugar Land rally.
The Chihuahuas scored an additional six runs in the bottom of the third, widening their advantage to 11-2. However, Sugar Land continued to chip away at the deficit offensively in the fourth on trio of walks, an RBI double by Corey Julks and a single to drive in a run from Whitcomb, leaving Sugar Land behind 11-4 after four innings.
In the top of the fifth, Marty Costes walked to begin the frame and Dirden followed with a two-run homer off the scoreboard in right, Dirden’s tenth home run of the year, to make it an 11-6 contest. César Salazar was hit by a pitch and Julks and JJ Matijevic walked with one out, bringing León to the dish. The second baseman narrowly missed a grand slam that just sailed on the wrong side of the left-field foul pole and eventually struck out against RHP Moises Lugo (H,8).
A six-run sixth for El Paso moved the Chihuahuas ahead 17-6 heading to the seventh. Undeterred, the Space Cowboys bats kept slugging with Rylan Bannon lacing a solo home run to center field, his 15th of the year and fifth in the month of August. Julks doubled and Matijevic was hit by a pitch, bringing up León to face Lugo again. After falling behind 0-2, León worked a full count and blasted his third home run of the night, giving the Space Cowboys double-digit runs in the game. It’s the first three-home run game in León’s career and the fifth three-homer game in Space Cowboys’ history.
Following a run by El Paso in the last of the eighth, Sugar Land was able to score one more in the ninth on a walk to Julks, a double by Matijevic and a sacrifice fly from Whitcomb, who extended his hitting streak to a team-high seven games with a multi-hit effort on Saturday night.
Sugar Land concludes their six-game series with El Paso on Sunday night. The Space Cowboys are scheduled to throw LHP Colton Gordon opposite Chihuahuas’ RHP Anderson Espinoza for a 7:05 pm CT first pitch. The game can be heard on ESPN 92.5 FM or online here and seen on MiLB.TV.
*ABOUT THE SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS: *
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and compete in the Pacific Coast League. They began play as the Astros Triple-A affiliate in 2021 and began playing under the Space Cowboys brand in 2022. The Space Cowboys play at Constellation Field, located at the corner of Hwy-6 and US-90 Alternate in Sugar Land, Texas. Follow the team on Twitter (@SLSpaceCowboys), Instagram (@slspacecowboys), Facebook (SLSpaceCowboys) and their official website (slspacecowboys.com). Fans can purchase full-season and partial-season plans, as well as single-game tickets, by visiting slspacecowboys.com/tickets.