Bases-Loaded Walk Saves Sugar Land From Shutout
Aiming for the seventh-straight win, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (81-49, 32-23) were unable to overcome the pitching of the Salt Lake Bees (61-69, 29-27) as Sugar Land dropped Saturday night’s contest at Constellation Field, 8-2. RHP Aaron Brown (L, 0-1) took the mound for Sugar Land in his Triple-A
Aiming for the seventh-straight win, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (81-49, 32-23) were unable to overcome the pitching of the Salt Lake Bees (61-69, 29-27) as Sugar Land dropped Saturday night’s contest at Constellation Field, 8-2.
RHP Aaron Brown (L, 0-1) took the mound for Sugar Land in his Triple-A debut and pitched 2.0 clean innings before surrendering a solo home run to Zach Humphreys in the third. In the fourth, Chad Stevens led off with a double, and Eric Wagaman drove in Stevens on a single to center field, making it 2-0 Salt Lake.
Brown’s night ended with one out in the fifth after putting two men on with a single and a walk. LHP Parker Mushinski took over and issued a free bag to Stevens and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Willie Calhoun to score another run. Then, Wagaman cleared the bases with a double for three runs and Humphreys drove in Wagaman to put the Bees up 7-0.
In the seventh, with RHP Shawn Dubin on the mound, Elliot Soto drew a walk and with two outs, Cole Tucker ripped a two-bagger down the right field line to send the speedy shortstop all the way home, extending Salt Lake’s lead to 8-0.
LHP Kenny Rosenberg (W, 8-6) silenced the Space Cowboys offense for 7.0 innings, holding them to just four hits and no walks while striking out eight. In the eighth, LHP Eric Torres took over for Rosenberg and gave up a single to Tommy Sacco Jr. as well as walks to César Salazar and Chas McCormick, loading the bases up. Torres got the next man on a strikeout, but Pedro León worked a seven-pitch walk to score the first Sugar Land run of the night. With the bases still loaded, Salt Lake turned to RHP Nick Robertson to escape them from a jam, and the reliever got a three-pitch strikeout to end the eighth.
RHP Misael Tamarez hurled two scoreless frames, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth for Sugar Land’s final chance to score. With Robertson back on the mound for Salt Lake, Sacco Jr. reached first on a single and advanced to second when Salazar was issued a walk. Kenedy Corona drove in the second run of the night for the Space Cowboys with an RBI single that skipped past the infield to send Sacco Jr. home from second. That was all Sugar Land would get, as Robertson got the final man to fly out, ending the game at 8-2 and serving the Space Cowboys with their first loss against Salt Lake in 2024.
The Space Cowboys close out a 12-game home stand on Sunday night with the series finale against the Bees. Sugar Land’s RHP AJ Blubaugh (10-3, 4.02) will start while Salt Lake has not named a starter. The game can be heard on ESPN 92.5 FM or online here and seen on MiLB.TV, MLB.TV or Bally Live.
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.