Arrighetti and Allgeyer Pitch Space Cowboys To 4-3 Victory
On a night where they needed a quality outing from their tandem pitchers, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (45-60, 12-16) received a pair of great pitching performances in a 4-3 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers (53-52, 16-14) on Thursday night at Constellation Field. Sugar Land’s offense delivered an early lead
On a night where they needed a quality outing from their tandem pitchers, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (45-60, 12-16) received a pair of great pitching performances in a 4-3 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers (53-52, 16-14) on Thursday night at Constellation Field.
Sugar Land’s offense delivered an early lead when Rylan Bannon worked a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first and stole second with Jon Singleton batting. Pedro León then drove in Bannon with a single to left, giving Sugar Land a 1-0 lead after one frame. The hit extended León’s hitting streak to eight games and his on-base streak to 15 consecutive games.
RHP Spencer Arrighetti (W, 1-2) limited the Rainiers offense in his start, hurling four scoreless innings to begin his night and giving up just two hits while striking out five. The righty allowed his only run of the evening in the fifth when Cooper Hummel doubled, moved to third on a single by Tanner Kirwer and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Bliss, bringing Tacoma level at 1-1. Arrighetti retired Brian O’Keefe to leave the go-ahead run at third, finishing off five, one-run frames with five strikeouts.
The Space Cowboys reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth. JJ Matijevic tripled to right to begin the inning and scored two hitters later on an RBI single by César Salazar, putting Sugar Land up 2-1.
After Arrighetti departed, LHP Nick Allgeyer (S, 1) entered in the sixth inning. The lefty struck out the first hitter he faced but loaded up the bases on two walks, a fielder’s choice and a hit by pitch. Allgeyer induced a groundout from Kirwer to strand the bases loaded, maintaining the Space Cowboys one-run advantage.
In the bottom of the seventh, Salazar doubled with two outs, bringing up Bannon, who launched a two-run homer to left, his 13th of the year and third of the series, vaulting the Space Cowboys to a 4-1 lead. Allgeyer faced one over the minimum in the seventh and eighth but gave up a pair of solo home runs in the ninth, including a two-out homer by O’Keefe, bringing up Jake Scheiner as the tying run. Allgeyer got ahead in the count and struck out Scheiner on a high fastball, securing the 4-3 win for Sugar Land.
Leading the series 2-1, the Space Cowboys continue their six-game tilt with Tacoma on Friday night. RHP Jairo Solis is set to take the hill for Sugar Land while the Rainiers are scheduled to throw RHP Darren McCaughan for a 7:05 pm first pitch. The game can be heard on ESPN 92.5 FM or online here and seen on MiLB.TV.
*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.