McCray Mashes Two Homers, Cats Clinch Series

SUGAR LAND, Texas – Two near-identical homers from Grant McCray was the only offense in the game for either team, smashing one in the third and one in the fifth of a 4-0 Sacramento River Cats win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Sunday.

Neither team had much going in the first two innings, but it was the third and fifth innings when the River Cats (31-32) had very identical blasts for the game’s only runs. Following an Osleivis Basabe single with two outs, McCray launched his first over the wall in left center for the 2-0 advantage.

Two innings later and it was a bit of déjà vu, as McCray once more followed a Basabe knock with a two-run blast to left field, this time coming in a 2-2 count while the first was a full count offering.

That was all the offense needed by Sacramento, as Mason Black (1-3) recorded his third quality start of the season by tossing six innings and not allowing a run on four hits. Though he walked three, he struck out nine batters for the second time this season, just one off his season high of 10 on April 17 against Salt Lake.

Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng followed with two clean innings, allowing a pair of hits with three punchouts. Ryan Watson finished it off with a perfect ninth inning.

Outside of the four hits from McCray and Basabe, outfielder Hunter Bishop had a pair of doubles en route to finishing 2-for-4, while Marco Luciano was 1-for-4.

The win clinched a series victory for Sacramento over Sugar Land, their first since the end of the 2023 campaign. Sacramento has never lost a series with the Space Cowboys and are now 22-14 against Sugar Land all-time.

Tomorrow the River Cats will return to the road, as they travel to Tacoma to face the Rainiers in a home series hosted at Cheney Stadium for a six-game set beginning on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. (PT).