Gordon, Defense Excellent In 4-2 Space Cowboys Victory
Thanks to a couple of stellar defensive plays, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (36-22) secured the 4-2 win against the Salt Lake Bees (25-32) at Smith’s Ballpark on Tuesday night. The Space Cowboys were the first on the board in the second inning against RHP Brett Kerry (L, 2-2) when
Thanks to a couple of stellar defensive plays, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (36-22) secured the 4-2 win against the Salt Lake Bees (25-32) at Smith’s Ballpark on Tuesday night.
The Space Cowboys were the first on the board in the second inning against RHP Brett Kerry (L, 2-2) when walks to César Salazar and Quincy Hamilton and a single from David Hensley loaded up the bases with one out. Jacob Amaya brought the first run home by grounding into a force out at second, and Jesús Bastidas drove in the next two on a hit that was nearly caught by the Bees right fielder Jack López but fell out of his glove as he was coming down from the dive, giving Sugar Land a 3-0 advantage. The Space Cowboys would tack on another in the fourth on an Amaya solo smash, extending the amount of consecutive games Sugar Land has hit at least one home run in to 14 games.
OPPO 🌮 for Amaya! pic.twitter.com/x4wV0QXMYU
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) June 5, 2024
LHP Colton Gordon (W, 3-0) started the contest by sitting down 10 of the first 12 batters he faced, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. After juicing the bases with one out, Bryce Teodosio sent a liner straight to Gordon at 97.9 miles-per-hour, and Gordon made a quick, terrific snag to keep the runners put. Two Bees would later score on a single from Chad Wallach, the only two runs Gordon allowed in his five innings pitched.
Holding a two-run lead in the sixth inning, RHP Logan VanWey (H, 4) walked two batters to bring Wallach, the go-ahead run, to the plate with two outs. Wallach sent a fastball deep to the right-field wall with just enough hang-time to give Pedro León the chance to leap under it and make a fantastic grab to rob Salt Lake’s catcher of at least extra-bases, preserving the 4-2 Space Cowboys lead.
Hello, police? We’d like to report a ROBBERY.
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) June 5, 2024
PEDRO LEÓN 😱#SCTop10 x @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/Tq3RZ17EGN
Great relief pitching from LHP Bryan King (H, 9) and RHP Luis Contreras (H, 5) kept the Bees offense quiet, with the two combining for one hit allowed and three strikeouts. In the bottom of the ninth, RHP Wander Suero (S, 10) took the mound and despite allowing a one-out walk that would advance to third on a failed pick-off attempt, collected his league-leading 10th save to break the Space Cowboys three-game losing streak.
Sugar Land continues their six-game set against the Salt Lake Bees on Wednesday night. LHP Eric Lauer (0-0, 12.60) will take the mound for the Space Cowboys against Salt Lake’s LHP Kenny Rosenberg (5-4, 3.86) for a 7:35 pm CT first pitch. 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.