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Offense Explodes Early On To Lead Sugar Land To Victory

Bastidas, Loperfido and León Drive in a Combined Eight Runs.
By Amanda Perry/Space Cowboys
June 15, 2024

Thanks to scoring nine runs before the fifth inning, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (44-23) were able to hold off a late rally from the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (37-30) in a 10-8 win on Friday night at Constellation Field. The Space Cowboys pounced in the opening frame when Pedro

Thanks to scoring nine runs before the fifth inning, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (44-23) were able to hold off a late rally from the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (37-30) in a 10-8 win on Friday night at Constellation Field.

The Space Cowboys pounced in the opening frame when Pedro León smashed a home run to left field to score Shay Whitcomb, putting Sugar Land on top at 2-0 after one. David Hensley led off the bottom of the second with a walk and a steal of second base. After Jacob Amaya singled Hensley over to third, the pair pulled off a double steal of second base and home plate to tack on a run for the Space Cowboys, marking just the second steal of home in franchise history. Newly promoted catcher Ryan Wrobleski worked a walk to put two on for Jesús Bastidas. Bastidas obliterated his first home run since May 30th, launching it 380 feet to left field to give Sugar Land a 6-0 advantage.

“I just went out there and tried to hit the ball hard,” said Bastidas. “When you leave a pitch where he [Vallimont] did, that’s what happens. I’m just really happy with the team. We’re doing everything right, we’re playing hard, and we’re winning games. That’s the most important thing.”

RHP AJ Blubaugh had a clean first and second inning before putting two on base with one out in the third. The righty battled an at-bat with Ryan Ward but gave up a three-run home run on the sixth pitch to Oklahoma City’s first baseman, cutting Sugar Land’s lead in half. Blubaugh’s night ended after four innings, striking out three and walking three in his 81 pitches thrown.

Sugar Land loaded up the bases in the fourth and booted Oklahoma City’s starter RHP Chris Vallimont (L, 1-1) with one out as RHP Jack Little came in relief to face Joey Loperfido. On the first pitch he saw, Loperfido blooped the ball into centerfield, scoring Amaya and Wrobleski. Whitcomb then drove a slider to the deepest part of the park off the wall, allowing Bastidas to score from second easily, making it 9-3.

RHP Dylan Coleman (W, 1-0) and RHP Alex Speas held it down out of the bullpen, with Coleman spinning a perfect fifth while Speas hurled a scoreless sixth and seventh over two shutout frames.

In the sixth inning, after a Loperfido triple and a Whitcomb hit-by-pitch to put two runners on, León knocked in his third RBI on a liner to right field to give the Space Cowboys double-digit runs for just the third time at Constellation Field this season.

Oklahoma City made things interesting in the top of the eighth with a three-run home run from Hunter Feduccia and a solo shot from Jonathan Araúz to make it a three-run game. RHP Logan VanWey (H, 5) came in with two outs and the tying run at the plate to face Miguel Vargas, who struck out on four pitches to protect the Space Cowboys 10-7 lead.

RHP Wander Suero (S, 13) took over the ninth to vie for his 13th save of the season. The closer gave up a lead-off home run to Ward and put the tying run on base, but recovered to get a strikeout and a double play to end the Oklahoma City threat and give the Space Cowboys a 10-8 Friday night win.

Leading the series 3-1, the Space Cowboys continue their six-game tilt with Oklahoma City on Saturday night. LHP Colton Gordon is scheduled to start for Sugar Land opposite RHP River Ryan 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, 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.

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