Blanco Ks' Nine And Space Cowboys Put Up Double-Digit Runs In Friday Night Victory

A great outing from their starter and plenty of runs helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (21-27) take down the Salt Lake Bees (21-28) 11-2 on Friday night at Constellation Field.

Sugar Land got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning. Rylan Bannon led off with a single and went first to third on a throwing error by Taylor Jones. A sacrifice fly by Justin Dirden brough in the first run to make it 1-0 Space Cowboys. Joe Perez singled before Marty Costes and Luke Berryhill worked back-to-back walks to force in another run. A sacrifice fly by JJ Matijevic finished the scoring in the frame to give the Space Cowboys a 3-0 lead.

RHP Ronel Blanco (W, 2-0) took the lead and ran with it, striking out six of the next eight batters he faced. The righty didn’t allow a hit through his first five innings of work and only gave up a pair of one-out singles in the sixth inning. All told, Blanco tossed 5.1 scoreless innings and tied a career high with nine strikeouts.

In the bottom of the sixth, Korey Lee and Bannon both singled and Pedro León drove in Lee with a double to the left-field gap. A single by Dirden advanced León to third and a sacrifice fly from Perez pushed the Space Cowboys lead to 5-0.

Salt Lake broke up the shutout with a run against RHP Misael Tamarez (S, 1) in the top of the seventh, but a Grae Kessinger home run in the bottom of the seventh once again moved the Space Cowboys back in front by five.

The final barrage of runs came in the bottom of the eight. Bligh Madris was hit by a pitch, Berryhill walked and Matijevic singled to load up the bases for Kessinger, who singled to center to score a run. Lee was then hit by a pitch to force in another run and Dixon Machado singled in two more to give Sugar Land a 10-1 advantage before a wild pitch plated the final tally of the night for the Space Cowboys.

Sugar Land continues their series against the Bees on Saturday night at Constellation Field. RHP Jairo Solis (0-0, 6.17) is set to toe the slab for the Space Cowboys while the Bees are set to send LHP Kenny Rosenberg (1-3, 4.74) to the mound for a 6:05 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.