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About

Salazar Puts Space Cowboys Ahead In 3-2 Win In Extras

Shay Whitcomb’s 11th Blast of the Season Gives Sugar Land 16 Consecutive Games with a Homer.
By Amanda Perry/Space Cowboys
June 7, 2024

In an exhilarating battle between both starters, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys’ (38-22) bested the Salt Lake Bees (25-34) 3-2 thanks to a timely hit in extras at Smith’s Ballpark on Thursday night. It was a true pitcher’s duel between RHP Ryan Gusto and RHP Zach Plesac. Each pitcher had

In an exhilarating battle between both starters, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys’ (38-22) bested the Salt Lake Bees (25-34) 3-2 thanks to a timely hit in extras at Smith’s Ballpark on Thursday night.

It was a true pitcher’s duel between RHP Ryan Gusto and RHP Zach Plesac. Each pitcher had a runner reach in the first on a fielding error, the only base runner that reached against Plesac in the first five frames. Gusto surrendered his first hit of the night in the third but proceeded to sit down the next 12 batters in order before back-to-back doubles with two outs in the sixth put Salt Lake up 1-0. However, the Space Cowboys tied it up in the next frame on one swing of the bat from Shay Whitcomb, who blasted his 11th home run of the season 463 feet to left-center field. Gusto’s solid outing ended after 6.0 innings, retiring 17 of the first 19 batters he faced while giving up just one run on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Salt Lake threatened in the seventh after a walk and a single off RHP Dylan Coleman put two runners on with no outs. A sacrifice bunt moved them over to second and third, and Coleman was able to get another out before walking D’Shawn Knowles to load the bases, ending his day. RHP Logan VanWey took over for the final out of the inning, and the righty got a huge strikeout of Jordyn Adams that kept the score knotted up at one.

Thanks to solid pitching performances from VanWey, RHP Conner Greene (W, 4-1), Plesac, and RHP Guillermo Zuñiga (L, 0-2), neither team could scrape anything else across the plate after the seventh, and the game was sent into extras. Whitcomb started on second as the automatic runner and gave Sugar Land an advantage by stealing third base right off the bat. Zuñiga’s walk to David Hensley prompted the Bees to bring in LHP Adam Kolarek to face the lefty César Salazar. Salazar ripped an opposite-field double down the left-field line, scoring Whitcomb easily and giving Hensley plenty of time to go from first to home, vaulting the Space Cowboys to their first lead of the night, 3-1.

Greene came back out to take the bottom of the 10th but gave up consecutive singles to the first two batters he saw, scoring a run to bring Salt Lake within one. With the go-ahead run at the plate, LHP Bryan King (S, 3) relieved Greene and immediately induced a bouncer right back to the mound, throwing it straight to third to get the lead runner out. A walk loaded the bases up for Niko Goodrum, who grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the contest and give the Space Cowboys their third win of the series.

Sugar Land continues their six-game set against the Salt Lake Bees on Friday night. RHP Blair Henley (2-4, 5.44) will take the mound for the Space Cowboys for a 7:35 pm CT first pitch. Salt Lake’s starter is TBA. 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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