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Cabbage Launches Two Home Runs In 6-5 Loss

Gaither Hurls 2.1 Scoreless
August 24, 2024

The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (75-48, 26-22) came back in the third inning, but it was not enough to defeat the Albuquerque Isotopes (49-75, 23-26) who held on for a 6-5 win on Friday night at Constellation Field. RHP Conner Greene took the mound against the Isotopes in the first

The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (75-48, 26-22) came back in the third inning, but it was not enough to defeat the Albuquerque Isotopes (49-75, 23-26) who held on for a 6-5 win on Friday night at Constellation Field.

RHP Conner Greene took the mound against the Isotopes in the first and gave up a single and a two-run homer to Elehuris Montero in the first three batters the righty faced. A walk and a stolen base from Hunter Goodman put a runner in scoring position, and Yanquiel Fernandez grounded a base hit up the middle to put the Isotopes up 3-0. A groundout and two walks loaded the bases for Albuquerque with two outs, and Sugar Land turned to RHP Misael Tamarez to get them out of a jam. Tamarez did just that, needing only three pitches to get Hunter Stovall swinging to end the first.

After loading the bases up against Tamarez in the second, Willie MacIver drew a two-out walk to send another home for the Isotopes, widening their lead to 4-0. RHP Ray Gaither entered the game to get the last out of the frame, which he did on a force out.

Sugar Land got on the scoreboard when Trey Cabbage mashed a solo blast on the second pitch he saw from LHP Josh Rogers (W, 2-5), his first home run with Sugar Land since June 2nd. Jesús Bastidas reached first on an infield single to shortstop, and a sacrifice bunt moved him to second. Dixon Machado grounded a ball to Montero, but the third baseman threw it way over the first baseman’s head to allow Bastidas to score from second, cutting Sugar Land’s deficit down to two.

In the third, Grae Kessinger doubled off the left-field wall to put one on for Cabbage, who rocked a two-run bomb to left-center field, his second of the game, to knot it up at four.

In the top of the sixth, the Isotopes broke the tie with an RBI single to score the runner at third off RHP Nick Hernandez (L, 4-4). In the eighth, Albuquerque loaded the bases on three walks against RHP Luis Contreras with no outs, but the reliever got the next two batters on strikeouts to face MacIver. Contreras hit MacIver with a fastball to score another run, but got the next man swinging to end the eighth.

In bottom of the ninth, Cabbage led off the inning with a walk and a stolen base to put him on second base for Quincy Hamilton, who shot a double into the right-center gap to send Cabbage home. Down one, pinch-hitter Jacob Melton took over for Machado and slapped a base hit over the head of the third baseman, moving Quincy to third. With runners on the corners, RHP Matt Koch (S, 4)recovered to get a strikeout and a groundout to secure Albuquerque’s 6-5 victory.

The Space Cowboys look to bounce back as they continue their 12-game homestand on Saturday night. Sugar Land will throw LHP Colton Gordon (6-1, 4.85) while Albuquerque’s RHP Peyton Battenfield (3-7, 8.18) will take the mound for a 7:05 pm CT first pitch. 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.