Rally Falls Short In Third-Straight Defeat For Sugar Land

A five-run second inning proved to be the difference as the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (40-32, 72-74) fell 7-5 to the Las Vegas Aviators (42-30, 86-59) on Thursday night at Constellation Field.

Sugar Land jumped out to a lead in the bottom of the first inning when Cavan Biggio earned a two-out walk in front of Jason Schiavone, who smashed an RBI double to left, giving the Space Cowboys an early 1-0 edge.

Schiavone's first Triple-A double, with an exclamation point ‼️#Ascend pic.twitter.com/DVMWxisWFD

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) September 18, 2026

RHP Bryce Mayer sat the side down in order in the first inning but saw the Aviators score five runs in the top of the second on a pair of one-out singles, a wild pitch and a two-out homer, moving Las Vegas ahead 5-1. However, the Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Year responded by retiring seven of the next eight batters, including striking out five of six hitters in the third and fourth frames. All told, Mayer went 4.0+ innings in his final start of the year and allowed six runs, five earned, with four walks and eight strikeouts.

César Salazar started the first of a trio of Space Cowboys’ rallies in the bottom of the third when he earned a leadoff walk. Lucas Spence followed with a double to center and an RBI groundout from Pascanel Ferreras pulled the Space Cowboys within three at 5-2.

The Aviators plated another run in the top of the fifth inning on a two-out fielding error, pushing their margin back to four runs at 6-2. Salazar once again opened the bottom of the fifth with a walk before moving to second on a groundout and advancing to third on a fielding error by Darell Hernaiz. Brice Matthews, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Biggio, delivered a sac fly to center, scoring Salazar from third to trim the deficit to 6-3.

Out of the bullpen, RHP Christian Roa struck out two in an inning of work and RHP Alimber Santa spun a scoreless sixth inning. RHP Kai-Wei Teng turned in a scoreless frame of his own in the seventh, setting the stage for a final Sugar Land rally.

Salazar collected a single up the middle to begin the last of the seventh, with Spence and Ferreras each drawing walks to load the bases up with no outs. RHP Luis Morales struck out the next two hitters, bringing up Zach Cole. The Space Cowboys’ right fielder smashed a 106.3 mph groundball that was booted at second base, allowing two runs to score while Ferreras moved to third and Cole advanced to second. Former Space Cowboys’ closer RHP Wander Suero relieved Morales and procured a strikeout before sitting the side down in order in the eighth.

CLOSING 🕺 THE 🕺 GAP 🕺 pic.twitter.com/zGxPWPseny

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) September 18, 2026

RHP Logan VanWey struck out one in a scoreless top of the eighth inning, and RHP Roddery Muñoz struck out two in the ninth inning, but a two-out double added an insurance run for the Aviators. Las Vegas brought on RHP Jared Johnson (S, 1) for the ninth, and the righty retired Sugar Land in order to close out the contest.

NOTABLE:

• In his final start of the season, RHP Bryce Mayer struck out eight batters over 4.0+ innings of work. The 24-year-old totaled 140 strikeouts this year between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Sugar Land, the most in the Astros’ minor league system in 2026.
• With his walk in the seventh inning, Pascanel Ferreras extended his on-base streak to 13 games. In that stretch, Ferreras is 17-for-54 (.315/.373) with five doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, seven runs scored and four walks.
• Brice Matthews made his sixth appearance with the Space Cowboys on Major League rehab, entering as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth inning before playing the rest of the game in left field. Matthews went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly.
• Cavan Biggio’s first-inning walk was his 104^th walk of the season. He is now one walk shy of matching his career high of 105 walks in a season, accomplished in 2019 between Triple-A Buffalo (34) and Toronto (71).
• RHP Logan VanWey and RHP Roddery Muñoz each made their 52^nd appearances of the year for the Space Cowboys on Thursday night. They are in a four-way tie for the fourth most outings in the Pacific Coast League this year.
• Muñoz had his six-game scoreless streak snapped when he allowed a run in his 1.0 inning of work on Thursday night. It was the first run Muñoz allowed since August 25 at Las Vegas and the first earned run that he allowed since August 19. Dating back to July 29, Muñoz has a 1.00 ERA in 19 outings, giving up three total runs, two earned, with 10 hits allowed, three walks and 28 strikeouts, going 7-for-7 in save chances in that span.

Sugar Land continues their final homestand of the season on Friday night as RHP Ryan Weiss is scheduled to start for the Space Cowboys opposite LHP James Gonzalez for Las Vegas for a 7:05 pm first pitch. The game can be seen on the Bally Sports Live app and MiLB.TV and can be heard online anywhere at SLSpaceCowboys.com/Listen.

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, winning their first Triple-A title in 2024 by clinching both the Pacific Coast League Championship and Triple-A National Championship. 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). Season ticket plans for the 2027 season are available now and can be purchased at slspacecowboys.com/tickets.