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Offense Ignites For 11 Runs In Grand Win Against Round Rock

Melton Hits Grand Slam for First Triple-A Home Run
(Eddie Kelley)
By Amanda Perry/Space Cowboys
August 3, 2024

An explosive second and sixth inning propelled the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (67-38, 18-12) to a grand win against the Round Rock Express (52-52, 15-15) as they took Friday night’s contest 11-6 at Dell Diamond. A lead-off walk in the bottom of the first from Justin Foscue proved to be

An explosive second and sixth inning propelled the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (67-38, 18-12) to a grand win against the Round Rock Express (52-52, 15-15) as they took Friday night’s contest 11-6 at Dell Diamond.

A lead-off walk in the bottom of the first from Justin Foscue proved to be trouble for Sugar Land starter RHP Conner Greene after Foscue stole second and scored on a single from Jonathan Ornelas, putting Round Rock up at 1-0.

The Space Cowboys took the lead after Zach Dezenzo started the started the second inning with a walk and Jacob Melton reached on a catcher’s interference. Concluding a brief injury delay in which Andrew Knapp was taken out of the game for Andrew Knizner, Sugar Land took advantage of the new catcher and conducted a double steal of second and third on the first pitch RHP Bryan Chi (L, 0-1) threw to Knizner. Cooper Hummel then cranked a fastball into the right-center gap, sending both runs home for the Space Cowboys 2-1 lead on a triple. César Salazar was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, and back-to-back singles from Omar Narváez and Dixon Machado extended Sugar Land’s lead to 4-1.

After allowing the first inning run, Greene excelled in his spot start for the Space Cowboys, pitching a scoreless second and third innings to end his night after three frames. RHP Cesar Gomez took over and gave up two consecutive singles to start the bottom of the fourth. Trevor Hauver grounded into a force out at second to cut Sugar Land’s lead in half but was picked off by Gomez for the second out. Gomez got a strikeout of Jax Biggers to end the stanza.

To start the fifth, Dezenzo worked a seven-pitch at bat and soared a slider high into the air, just crossing the fence in left field for a solo homer and getting the lost run back for the Space Cowboys to make it 5-2.

Gomez returned for the fifth and gave up a one-out single to Foscue. On a 2-2 count to Sandro Fabian, Gomez surrendered an RBI double to bring Round Rock within two. It did not take long for Sugar Land to put more on the board when Narváez flared a single over the infield to start the sixth and Machado walked to put two on. Shay Whitcomb sent a pitch from RHP Florencio Serrano off the wall in centerfield for a double to score Narváez. Grae Kessinger worked a walk and then Dezenzo took a free base on a pitch clock violation from Serrano to score Machado from third and bring Melton up to the plate with the bases still loaded. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Melton blasted a fastball to the opposite field 375 feet for a grand slam, his first home run of his Triple-A career, expanding Sugar Land’s advantage to 11-3 after six.

RHP Nick Hernandez (W, 3-2) did not allow a baserunner in his inning of work. Round Rock scored an unearned run off RHP Forrest Whitley in the seventh and a pair of runs off LHP Parker Mushinski in the eighth to bring it to 11-6, but RHP Luis Contreras pitched a clean ninth inning to end the game and give Sugar Land the 3-1 series lead.

The Space Cowboys will take on the Round Rock Express for the fifth game of the series on Saturday night. Sugar Land’s starter is RHP AJ Blubaugh (7-3, 4.10) for a 7:15 pm CT first pitch against Round Rock’s RHP Adrian Sampson (8-6, 5.91). 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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