River Cats Rally In Ninth To End Space Cowboys Winning Streak

For a second straight night, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (30-35) were in a close game late with the Sacramento River Cats (30-35) but ultimately fell 9-5 on Wednesday night at Constellation Field.

Sugar Land jumped out to a lead in the bottom of the second inning. Shay Whitcomb singled and stole second before a single from Joe Perez plated Whitcomb to make it 1-0 Space Cowboys. Two batters later, Alex McKenna laced a two-run homer to right, his second of the season, widening the Sugar Land lead to 3-0.

Sacramento countered with two in the third, chasing RHP Jairo Solis after 2.1 innings. RHP Jimmy Endersby came in and tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, keeping the Space Cowboys ahead by a run at 3-2.

In the last of the fifth, Quincy Hamilton walked and Bligh Madris launched a home run to center, his tenth of the year, putting Sugar Land up by three again at 5-2. The home run by Madris was the final hit of the night for Sugar Land.

RHP Austin Hansen (BS, 2) pitched in extended relief and gave up just one run in his first three innings of work. He returned for the eighth and had a runner reach on an infield single and advance to second on a balk. Another infield single and a throwing error brought in a run and two hitters later a double from Isan Diaz tied the game at 5-5. The River Cats would score four in the top of the ninth against LHP Blake Taylor (L, 0-2) on a walk, two hits, a sacrifice bunt, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly.

The Space Cowboys were able to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning thanks to walks to JJ Matijevic, Hamilton and Madris, but LHP Joey Marciano struck out the final batter with the bases loaded to secure the win for Sacramento.

Sugar Land continues their six-game series with the River Cats on Thursday night. RHP Kyle McGowin (1-1, 6.56) is scheduled to start for the Space Cowboys while Sacramento is scheduled to throw LHP Kyle Harrison (0-2, 3.40) for a 7:05 pm first pitch at Constellation Field. 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.