France Dominates, Offense Provides Support In 6-3 Win Over Dodgers

Grae Kessinger homered and Pedro León drove in three to help support a quality outing from the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (5-9) pitching staff in a 6-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers (11-4) on Sunday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

RHP JP France (W, 1-1) started for the Space Cowboys and retired the first eight men that he saw, allowing just a two-out walk in the third before stranding the runner on a pop out.

Sugar Land broke the scoreless tie in the fourth thanks to a key two-out hit. RHP Gavin Stone (L, 1-2) got a ground out to begin the fourth but Bligh Madris and Joe Perez strung together back-to-back singles, chasing the Dodgers’ starter from the game. RHP Justin Hagenman retired the first batter he faced but Kessinger connected on a two-out, two-strike home run to left, his first of the year, boosting Sugar Land to a 3-0 advantage.

France continued his dominant pitching through the next two innings, surrendering just one base runner on a wild pitch following a strikeout. The righty threw five hitless, scoreless innings, walking one with seven strikeouts on just 61 pitches, generating 13 swings and misses.

The Dodgers finally cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth on a double, two walks and a sacrifice fly. With the tying run at first, RHP Ty Buttrey (H, 1) entered with two outs and struck out Ben DeLuzio to maintain the Space Cowboys two-run lead.

The Space Cowboys added on a pair of runs in the seventh with another big two-out knock. With Kessinger at third and Luke Berryhill at first, León doubled to left field, scoring both runs to push Sugar Land up 5-1. León finished the scoring for Sugar Land with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning.

RHP Misael Tamarez tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth inning and returned for the bottom of the ninth. After walking the first two batters, RHP Enoli Paredes came on in relief and issued a pair of two out walks to force in a run. A fielder’s choice brought in the final run before Paredes induced a pop out to close out the game.

Following an off day on Monday, the Space Cowboys return to Constellation Field to take on the Las Vegas Aviators. RHP Jairo Solis (0-0, 7.36) is set to toe the slab for Sugar Land opposite Aviators’ RHP Drew Rucinski (0-1, 9.00) for a 6:35 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.