Suero Becomes Pacific Coast League Single-Season Saves Leader In 4-1 Space Cowboys Victory
Tasked with protecting a lead of the 36th time this season, RHP Wander Suero converted his 26th consecutive save on Saturday night to close out a 4-1 Sugar Land Space Cowboys (86-50, 37-24) win over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (71-66, 31-31) at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. It was Suero’s 34th
Tasked with protecting a lead of the 36th time this season, RHP Wander Suero converted his 26th consecutive save on Saturday night to close out a 4-1 Sugar Land Space Cowboys (86-50, 37-24) win over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (71-66, 31-31) at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. It was Suero’s 34th save of this season, making the right-hander the all-time single season saves leader in Pacific Coast League history.
The moment Suero Time was written into the record books 📚 #SetTheCourse pic.twitter.com/hsCYgl2ZbR
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) September 8, 2024
Sugar Land threatened to take a lead in the first two frames of the game. Trey Cabbage singled with one out in the first and stole second base but was stranded when RHP Ben Casparius struck out a pair. Cooper Hummel then started the second inning with a single and stole second before Quincy Hamilton worked a walk. A double play canceled out Hamilton but put Hummel at third, however he was stranded there on a flyout to deep right.
On the hill for Sugar Land, RHP AJ Blubaugh (W, 12-3) was sharp to begin his evening, retiring the first seven straight batters he faced while striking out five of them. The first two hits for Oklahoma City were an infield single and a bunt single in the third, but Blubaugh got a strikeout of Drew Avans and a flyout to strand both runners and keep the game scoreless heading to the fourth.
Zach Dezenzo worked a lead-off walk for Sugar Land to start the fourth in front of Jacob Melton, who replaced Dezenzo at first with a fielder’s choice. Melton swiped second base and scored on a triple off the right-field wall by Hummel, putting Sugar Land up 1-0.
Coop goes off the wall to give us the lead! #SetTheCourse pic.twitter.com/j7WPFry3xX
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) September 8, 2024
An error helped lead to a run for OKC in the bottom of the fifth. Hunter Feduccia doubled to the left-field gap, but a bobble in the outfield allowed the Oklahoma City catcher to advance to third base. With the infield drawn in, Alex Freeland singled through the right side, knotting the game up at 1-1. Blubaugh got the next hitter to ground into a double play and induced a groundout to end the inning without any further damage.
Facing former Houston Astros RHP Jordan Lyles (L, 0-1), Hummel doubled inside of first to open the sixth, Hummel’s third hit of the night that put him a homer shy of the cycle. A flyout to deep right moved Hummel to third as the go-ahead run, but a pair of pop outs stranded him in scoring position. Blubaugh closed out his night in the bottom of the sixth with a flyout, a walk, a strikeout and a flyout. All told, the righty hurled 6.0 innings of one-run ball, giving up just four hits with a walk while tying a career-high nine strikeouts for a second consecutive outing. It was Blubaugh’s sixth quality start of the year and the 22nd quality start for Space Cowboys pitchers in 2024.
In the top of the seventh, Kenedy Corona walked to begin the inning and stole second before scoring on a triple to the gap by Cabbage, giving Sugar Land a 2-1 lead. Dezenzo drove in Cabbage with a base hit to left but was thrown out attempting to stretch it into a double. Melton then singled up the middle, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, and Hummel followed with a single to center of his own, putting men on the edges. With new lefty John Rooney on the mound, Hummel was picked off trying to steal second, but stayed in the rundown long enough to let Melton score and push the Space Cowboys to a 4-1 lead.
Field Goals on the mind as Cabbage takes three to give Sugar Land the lead #SetTheCourse pic.twitter.com/Fq2l9GHH7y
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) September 8, 2024
Out of the bullpen, RHP Logan VanWey (H, 11) took over in the seventh inning. He issued a lead-off walk, but promptly got a double play and flyout to face the minimum in a scoreless seventh before returning for the bottom of the eighth and spinning another scoreless frame.
With the stage set, Suero entered for his Minor League-leading 61st time in the ninth inning. The 32-year-old struck out Ryan Ward looking on three pitches before getting Kody Hoese to ground out to short for the second out in the frame. Tasked with facing his former teammate James Outman, Suero got a first pitch pop-up to short from the OKC centerfielder, locking down Suero’s Pacific Coast League record 34th save in 36 attempts.
Having secured the series, the Space Cowboys conclude their six-game tilt with Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon. RHP Ryan Gusto (7-5, 3.92) is set to toe the slab for the Space Cowboys while OKC has not named a starter for a 2:05 pm CT first pitch at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. 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.