Sacramento Falls Short Despite Eight-Run Fourth

SUGAR LAND, Tex. – The Sacramento River Cats scored all eight of their runs in the game during the fourth inning, but it was not enough to last as the Sugar Land Space Cowboys mounted a comeback that saw the game tied in the ninth before winning in walk-off fashion by a 9-8 final on Friday.

Taking the early lead were the Space Cowboys (15-9/64-35), plating one in the second on a sacrifice fly, and two in the third thanks to a double from Zach Dezenzo and a single from Will Wagner.

Responding in the next half inning were the River Cats (9-16/53-47), tallying eight runs in an inning for the second time this season plating nine in the second inning of a 14-8 win at Las Vegas on June 28. In total it was just the 31st time since 2005 that the River Cats have scored eight or more runs in an inning.

A total of 13 batters came to the dish during the inning, but none left with more hits than Grant McCray who singled to start the action and later delivered an RBI single up the middle with two outs. That made McCray the 49th River Cat since 2005 with two hits in the same inning, a feat that was most recently accomplished by a trio of River Cats in Jakson Reetz, Will Wilson and Luis Gonzalez in the fifth inning at Albuquerque on July 30, 2023.

Also driving in a run during the frame was Jerar Encarnacion, forcing home the final two tallies of the action with a single into center. Not only did it give him 19 RBI in the month of July, but he has also matched Casey Schmitt for the second-longest hitting streak on the River Cats this season at 15 games.

Despite the 8-3 lead, it couldn’t hold as the Space Cowboys scored twice more in the fifth and one in the sixth, finally completing the comeback and forcing extra innings with two runs in the home half of the ninth. After a scoreless 10th, it was the 11th when the home crowd went home happy as Grae Kessinger managed to lift a sacrifice fly to right that scored the free runner.

This marked the fourth loss in extra innings for the River Cats, three of which have now come in a row after falling July 6 and June 19. Additionally, they are now 3-7 in walk-off contests, with all seven losses coming consecutively beginning with a 7-6 walk-off loss on the road to El Paso on May 24.

Outside of the fourth inning, a frame in which they also had four walks, Sacramento managed just a single hit which came during the eighth. That hit belonged to Christian Koss, who nearly made a game-saving play at shortstop in the bottom of the ninth, but the runner was ruled safe at first for a hit.

Charged with the loss was Donovan Walton, his first in nine appearances this season, though the run was unearned as it was the free runner which keeps his ERA at 1.64 in 11 innings. Nick Garcia was tabbed with his fourth blown save of the year.

The River Cats will need to win both games this weekend if they want to split the six-game set, and their first chance comes on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. (PT).