Lead Slips Away In Middle Innings For Sugar Land

After taking an early lead, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (24-31) saw the Round Rock Express (30-25) come back on two occasions in a 6-5 defeat on Friday night at Dell Diamond.

Bligh Madris got the scoring immediately for Sugar Land, hitting a first pitch home run in the top of the first. It was the fourth lead-off home run of the year for Madris and the third he has hit on the first pitch of a game.

Joe Perez added on another run in the top of the second inning with a 442-foot homer to left, his fourth of the year, to put Sugar Land up 2-0. Luke Berryhill followed with a single and moved to third on a stolen base and a throwing error. Jackson Loftin drove him in with a double inside of third and Madris plated Loftin with a single, widening Sugar Land’s advantage to 4-0.

Round Rock pulled within a run in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly. The E-Train would tie the game in the bottom of the fourth on a triple by Elier Hernandez.

Despite giving up the early advantage, Sugar Land would take the lead again in the top of the fifth. LHP Triston Polley (W, 1-0) walked two batters and hit another to load the bases and Grae Kessinger walked to force in the go-ahead run. The lefty would strand the bases loaded on a deep fly out to center and pitched a scoreless top of the sixth for Round Rock.

In the bottom of the sixth, Sandro Fabian hit a line-drive home run over the left-field wall, tying the game. Hernandez went back-to-back with Fabian to give Round Rock a 6-5 lead against RHP Tyler Brown (L, 0-1) in his Triple-A debut. The Space Cowboys drew a lead-off walk in the top of the eighth, but the next three hitters struck out and a lead-off single in the ninth was cancelled out on a double play induced by RHP Yerry Rodriguez (S, 1).

Sugar Land continues their six-game series with the Express on Saturday night. The Space Cowboys are scheduled to send RHP Kyle McGowin (1-0, 3.50) to the hill against LHP Cody Bradford (6-1, 0.99 ERA) for 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.