Space Cowboys Drop Back-and-Forth Battle on Opening Day
(WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- The Sugar Land Space Cowboys came ready to take flight in the first-ever game under the new brand as the Houston Astros Triple A affiliate. JJ Matijevic powered a two-home run into the right-field home bullpen at Sutter Health Park just four batters into the contest.
(WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- The Sugar Land Space Cowboys came ready to take flight in the first-ever game under the new brand as the Houston Astros Triple A affiliate. JJ Matijevic powered a two-home run into the right-field home bullpen at Sutter Health Park just four batters into the contest. Then with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth, Pedro León dashed home on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6-6.
The Sacramento River Cats would come out on top, though, as the Space Cowboys fell 7-6 on Tuesday night as Triple A teams throughout Minor League Baseball opened their 2022 campaigns.
Matijevic, who tied for the Sugar Land team lead with 16 home runs in 2021, drove in Marty Costes with his two-run blast to give the Space Cowboys an early advantage. Costes singled up the middle directly prior to Matijevic’s home run, which went down as the first-ever hit in Space Cowboys history.
The Space Cowboys were down to their final out before León and Lewis Brinson provided singles, and Costes was hit by a pitch, to load the bases. León then tied the game, scoring on a wild pitch from Sacramento right-hander Matt Carasiti (1-0). David Villar provided the walk-off hit in the bottom half of the inning, singling off Enoli Paredes (0-1) to bring home Jaylin Davis.
Sacramento took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first off Space Cowboys starter JP France. Heliot Ramos delivered a two-run homer to right field to get the River Cats on the board.
León – rated as the Astros’ No. 4 prospect by MLB.com – put the Space Cowboys back up in the second with a double off the left-field wall to score Alex De Goti and David Hensley. León finished the night 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Sacramento went on to tally another three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a three-run home run from Villar.
Left-hander Parker Mushinski and right-hander Nick Hernandez each tossed two scoreless innings of relief for Sugar Land to set up the dramatic ninth inning.
Right-hander Hunter Brown will make his first start of the season at 8:35 p.m. on Wednesday at Sutter Health Park, with Sacramento sending left-hander Michael Plassmeyer to the mound