Sixth-Inning Homer Undoes Space Cowboys In Wednesday Defeat
The bats fought back in the fourth, but Sugar Land Space Cowboys (19-10) were held without a run in the final five frames in a 6-4 defeat against the El Paso Chihuahuas (13-16) on Wednesday night at Southwest University Park. The Space Cowboys struck first in the top of the
The bats fought back in the fourth, but Sugar Land Space Cowboys (19-10) were held without a run in the final five frames in a 6-4 defeat against the El Paso Chihuahuas (13-16) on Wednesday night at Southwest University Park.
The Space Cowboys struck first in the top of the second after a lead-off triple from Pedro León. Corey Julks brought him home on a sacrifice fly that nearly went out of the ballpark to deep center field.
RHP Ryan Gusto started off strong in the bottom of the first by striking out the side in order on 11 pitches, 10 of them for strikes. The next inning, after a couple of singles, Gusto allowed a three-run homer to Mason McCoy, vaulting the Chihuahuas over the Space Cowboys 3-1. Outside of the second inning, Gusto allowed just one more hit across his five frames of work, striking out six.
The Space Cowboys chipped away in the third with a Jesús Bastidas RBI ground out to bring them within one. In the fourth, after Julks started off the inning with a double, Shay Whitcomb knocked him in with a two-bagger of his own, knotting up the game at three. Later in the inning, Luke Berryhill grounded a go-ahead base hit through the left side, scoring Whitcomb to make it 4-3.
RHP Rhett Kouba (L, 1-3) relieved Gusto in the sixth and surrendered a two-run home run to El Paso’s Brett Sullivan to put the Chihuahua’s ahead at 5-4. El Paso added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI double.
In a repeat of Tuesday night’s events, León was up to bat with two outs and one on in the top of the ninth as Sugar Land’s last hope. León battled the at-bat but grounded it to the second baseman on the sixth pitch to end the game at 6-4.
The Space Cowboys had a couple of great defensive plays that kept the game close. With one on in the third, Sullivan lined it right to first baseman Will Wagner who turned it into an unassisted double play. In the seventh, with El Paso threatening with runners on second and third, César Salazar caught Bryce Johnson with too big of a lead at third base and threw him out to remove a runner from scoring position.
Sugar Land continues their six-game set with El Paso on Thursday night. RHP Blair Henley (1-1, 3.48) is set to take the mound for a 7:35 pm CT first pitch against El Paso’s RHP Randy Vasquez (0-2, 7.94). 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.