Loperfido Launches First Home Run, Records Multi-Hit Effort For Sugar Land

A career outing from their starter and the first Triple-A home run for Joey Loperfido helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (47-71, 14-29) knot up their contest with the Round Rock Express (70-47, 26-17), but another seventh-inning rally toppled Sugar Land 8-3 on Friday night at Constellation Field.

In the top of the first inning, Davis Wendzel hit a solo home run, his 24^th of the year, giving Round Rock a 1-0 lead. RHP Brandon Bielak replied by striking out the next two hitters and K’ing the side in the second, giving him five strikeouts through two frames.

The Express added two more to their lead in the top of the third inning on a two-out double, the last runs Bielak allowed in the contest. The righty struck out the side in a scoreless fourth and then picked up a strikeout of Jonathan Ornelas to end the fifth, Bielak’s 11^th strikeout of the night. The 11 strikeouts tie the single-game Space Cowboys franchise record, set by Jimmy Endersby on September 2, 2022 against Albuquerque, and also ties Bielak’s career high for strikeouts in a single game at any level.

One swing of the bat brought Sugar Land level in the bottom of the third inning. Dixon Machado and César Salazar each walked to begin the frame, and after a fielder’s choice, Loperfido connected for a three-run blast to right, his first home run at Triple-A and 21^st overall of the season, tying the game at 3-3.

Sugar Land had their best chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Loperfido started the frame with a hustle double off RHP Cole Winn (W, 7-6) and stole third base, but Winn retired the next three hitters in order to strand the go-ahead run at third.

Round Rock took the lead for good in the top of the seventh, sending nine men to the plate and scoring five runs on six hits. Sugar Land was limited to just one hit for the remainder of the game, a single in the eighth by Pedro Leon.

The Space Cowboys continue their six-game tilt with the Express on Saturday night. LHP Colton Gordon is scheduled to make his Constellation Field debut against Round Rock LHP Cody Bradford for a 7:05 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.