Sugar Land Grits Out Extra-Innings Win Over OKC

After falling behind early, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (18-25) leveled the contest in the middle innings before picking up a 4-3 win in 11 innings over the Oklahoma City Dodgers (32-12) on Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

For the first time in the series, the Dodgers scored first, striking for a pair of runs on two hits, two walks and a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first inning, moving out to a 2-0 advantage. It was the only inning thrown by RHP Misael Tamarez, who struck out two in one frame of work, tossing 31 pitches, 17 for strikes.

RHP Ronel Blanco entered for the Space Cowboys in the second and kicked off a streak of eight shutout innings for the Space Cowboys pitching staff. Blanco retired the first seven batters that he faced and stranded the bases loaded in the fourth after a pair of singles and a walk with two outs. Blanco struck out Drew Avans to leave the bags full, starting a stretch where Blanco sat down seven of the last eight hitters he saw. The righty went five shutout innings, surrendering just two hits and a pair of walks while striking out seven. The seven strikeouts are the most for Blanco in an outing since April of 2019 when he was with the Corpus Christi Hooks.

One big swing tied the contest in the top of the fifth. Dixon Machado worked a lead-off walk and Bligh Madris followed with a 409-foot blast to center field, his sixth home run of the year and second of the series, bringing the game even at 5-5. Korey Lee and JJ Matijevic hit back-to-back one-out singles, putting the go-ahead run at second, but RHP William Cuevas was able to leave two men on base.

Bligh goes 409 to center and WE. ARE. TIED! pic.twitter.com/B3IUMJvk16

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) May 21, 2023

LHP Blake Taylor took over for Sugar Land in the bottom of the seventh and spun two scoreless innings. RHP Enoli Paredes (W, 1-1) worked a scoreless ninth, sending the game to extras.

Madris started as the bonus runner at second in the top of the tenth and advanced to third on a wild pitch to begin the inning. Grae Kessinger then singled through the left side, scoring the Madris to give the Space Cowboys their first lead of the night. Paredes returned for the home half of the tenth, but a pair of fly outs to left by the Dodgers scored their bonus runner to force the 11^th.

After a strikeout by RHP Nick Robertson (L, 0-1), Marty Costes moved the bonus runner Rylan Bannon to third with a chopper and Luke Berryhill delivered the winning run with a two-strike, two-out single to right, putting Sugar Land up 4-3. RHP Joe Record (S, 4) came on for the Space Cowboys in the bottom of the inning and induced a flyout to right that was just deep enough to let the bonus runner Ryan Ward tag up to third. Hunter Feduccia hit a groundball to first that Matijevic threw home, and Lee tagged Ward as he was attempting to score, eliminating the lead runner and keeping the Dodgers off the board. A groundout by the next hitter ended the game and secured the victory for Sugar Land.

The Space Cowboys conclude their six-game series against the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon. RHP Angel Macuare (0-1, 6.57) is scheduled to start the final against Oklahoma City RHP Michael Grove (NR) for a 2:05 pm first pitch. 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.