Blanco Strikes Out 12 In Career-Best Outing To Help Sugar Land To Win
A career outing from their starter and a trio of long balls helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (55-84, 22-42) take down the Sacramento River Cats (61-77, 27-37) 8-1 on Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park. Sugar Land jumped out to a lead in the top of the first inning.
A career outing from their starter and a trio of long balls helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (55-84, 22-42) take down the Sacramento River Cats (61-77, 27-37) 8-1 on Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park.
Sugar Land jumped out to a lead in the top of the first inning. Corey Julks doubled with one out and Joey Loperfido slammed an opposite-field two-run homer, his third with Sugar Land and 23rd overall of the year, giving the Space Cowboys a 2-0 lead.
On the hill, RHP Ronel Blanco (W, 5-4) got off to a perfect start, striking out the first two batters he faced. A four-pitch walk put a man on base, but Blanco struck out David Villar to end a scoreless first on 12 pitches.
Rylan Bannon added another run in the top of the second inning, launching the first pitch from RHP Tristan Beck (L, 3-2) over the right-field wall, his 16th home run of the year.
Given a 3-0 lead, Blanco struck out the side again in the second, sitting down the five through seven hitters in order. Brett Wisley walked against Blanco in the third and moved to second on a groundout, but Sugar Land’s righty struck out Wade Meckler swinging and K’d Marco Luciano for a second time, giving Blanco eight strikeouts through just three innings.
Sacramento got their first hit of the night in the fourth inning on a bunt single by Tyler Fitzgerald, but Blanco induced a double play to cancel out the base runner before striking out Trenton Brooks looking, Blanco’s nine strikeout of the night, tying his career high through just four frames of work. The 29-year-old crossed into double digits with a strikeout of Heloit Ramos in the fifth and gave up his only other hit of the night on a two-out knock by Wisley.
The Space Cowboys offense added on another run in the top of the sixth when Bligh Madris and Bannon singled and Dixon Machado walked with one out, loading up the bases for David Hensley, who earned a walk to force in a run. Blanco struck out the first two batters he faced in the sixth inning, giving him 12 strikeouts in his outing, the most strikeouts in a single outing in Space Cowboys’ franchise history.
Sugar Land loaded up the bases again in the top of the seventh on a single by Loperfido, a walk to Pedro León and a Shay Whitcomb single. Bannon then collected his fourth hit of the night, a two-RBI single to right, pushing the Space Cowboys to a 6-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Blanco returned but walked the lead-off man and was replaced by LHP Bennett Sousa, who retired three straight batters to strand the inherited runner. Blanco finished the night with 6.0+ innings, giving up just two hits and three walks while striking out 12 on 88 pitches, throwing a first-pitch strike to 15 of the 22 hitters he faced.
The finishing touch of the night came in the eighth inning. León earned his third free pass of the evening and Whitcomb followed with a two-run homer to right, turning around a 101-mph fastball from RHP Melvin Adón. It was Whitcomb’s 22nd home run with the Space Cowboys this season and his 34th overall, tying him with Hunter Goodman for the most home runs in Minor League Baseball.
The Space Cowboys continue their six-game series against the River Cats on Wednesday night. RHP Spencer Arrighetti is scheduled to start for Sugar Land while Sacramento is slated to send RHP Miguel Yajure to the hill for an 8:45 pm CT 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.