León's Game-Tying Blast Not Enough To Defeat Chihuahuas
Despite some ninth inning theatrics to tie the game up, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (19-9) dropped their first game 8-6 against the El Paso Chihuahuas (12-16) at Southwest University Park. RHP JP France took the mound for his first Triple-A start of the season, holding the Chihuahuas hitless before
Despite some ninth inning theatrics to tie the game up, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (19-9) dropped their first game 8-6 against the El Paso Chihuahuas (12-16) at Southwest University Park.
RHP JP France took the mound for his first Triple-A start of the season, holding the Chihuahuas hitless before giving up a two-out base hit to Matthew Batten in the bottom of the third. In the fourth, El Paso struck for three runs off France with an RBI triple from Tirso Ornleas and a two-RBI infield single from Tim Locastro to break open the scoring, making it 3-0. France pitched 3.2 innings of four-hit, three-run ball, walking four and striking out three.
Cooper Hummel knocked in a runner with a single in the fifth to give Sugar Land some life. In the seventh, Luke Berryhill hit his first home run of the year to left field to bring the Space Cowboys within one at 3-2.
The Chihuahuas tagged on a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings with an RBI double and triple, while the Space Cowboys got one back from Will Wagner in the eighth on an RBI force out aided by a throwing error from shortstop Mason McCoy to score Pedro León.
Down three heading to the top of the ninth, David Hensley led off the inning with a double and Jesús Bastidas grounded a ball back to the Chihuahuas RHP Logan Gilliaspie (W, 1-0), deflecting off his leg and rolling into no-man’s land to score Hensley from third. With Bastidas at first, León came up to bat and cranked a slider to straightaway center, soaring well over the centerfield wall after leaving the bat at 113.8 mph.
RHP Logan VanWey (L, 1-1) entered in the ninth and got a lineout and a strikeout to quickly record a pair of outs, but a single put a man on for Ornelas who hit a walk-off two-run homer for El Paso.
The Space Cowboys play their second game against the El Paso Chihuahuas Wednesday night. RHP Ryan Gusto (0-1, 9.00) is set to take the mound for a 7:35 pm CT first pitch against El Paso’s Gabe Mosser (0-1, 14.56). 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.