Matijevic's Walk-off Single Gives Sugar Land 2-1 Victory in Extras

A walk-off single by JJ Matijevic delivered a 2-1 win for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (48-73, 15-31) over the Reno Aces (68-53, 24-22) on Tuesday night at Constellation Field.

On the hill, RHP Spencer Arrighetti got the start for the Space Cowboys. The right-hander encountered his only trouble of the night in the second when he gave up a one-out hit to Jake McCarthy and surrendered a pair of two-out walks to load the bases. However, Arrighetti induced a groundout to short by Diego Castillo, leaving the bases loaded for the Aces. Arrighetti would retire the final 13 hitters that he faced, striking out three across six scoreless innings. Between his last two starts during the Space Cowboys’ current home stand, Arrighetti has thrown 11.0 shutout innings, giving up just three hits.

The Space Cowboys scored their lone run in regulation in the bottom of the third. Dixon Machado and César Salazar knocked back-to-back singles and a Joey Loperfido sacrifice fly made it 1-0 Sugar Land. RHP Ryne Nelson for Reno threw seven innings and gave up just the one run.

LHP Nick Allgeyer spun a scoreless seventh but gave up a solo home run to Ali Sanchez in the top of the eighth. It was the lone hit allowed by Allgeyer, who faced two over the minimum in three innings of relief.

In the top of the tenth, RHP Joe Record (W, 3-2) got a weak flyout from Phillip Evans, keeping the bonus runner McCarthy at second. McCarthy would steal third, but Record struck out the next two hitters to keep the game at 1-1 going to the bottom of the tenth.

With Rylan Bannon at second as the bonus runner, Pedro León dropped down a bunt that was misplayed by LHP Andrew Saalfrank (L, 4-2), putting men on the edges with no outs. Shay Whitcomb was intentionally walk, bringing up Matijevic with the bases loaded and no outs. Matijevic worked 2-2 count and laced a single to left, easily scoring Bannon to bring in the winning run. The victory snapped a ten-game losing streak for the Space Cowboys.

Sugar Land continues their six-game series with Reno on Wednesday night. RHP Misael Tamarez is set to start for the Space Cowboys against Aces’ RHP Aaron Sanchez for a 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.