Offense Held In Check In 4-1 Loss
Despite a great outing from their starter, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (57-32, 8-6) conceded a few late-inning runs that they could not overcome against the Las Vegas Aviators (44-45, 7-7) in a 4-1 defeat at Constellation Field on Friday night. Just like last night, the Space Cowboys struck in
Despite a great outing from their starter, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (57-32, 8-6) conceded a few late-inning runs that they could not overcome against the Las Vegas Aviators (44-45, 7-7) in a 4-1 defeat at Constellation Field on Friday night.
Just like last night, the Space Cowboys struck in the second inning off RHP Brandon Bielak when Pedro León led off the frame with a triple down the right-field line to bring Quincy Hamilton to the plate. Hamilton grounded a curveball past the second baseman and into the outfield to score León easily. Sugar Land threated for more by loading the bases with one out, but Bielak induced a double play to escape the jam and keep the Space Cowboys lead to only 1-0.
Sir Hamilton. 👑 pic.twitter.com/8wbpRrf1Ns
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) July 13, 2024
LHP Colton Gordon pitched 5.0 scoreless innings, with his only real trouble of the night coming in fourth after issuing two walks to Jordan Diaz and Logan Davidson with one out. The southpaw got out of the frame by getting Colby Thomas to pop out and Carlos Pérez to groundout. Gordon allowed just one hit in his 92 pitches and struck out two while walking three.
RHP Drew Strotman pitched a clean sixth, and RHP Ray Gaither took over for the seventh, surrendering a solo shot to Davidson to get the game knotted up at one apiece. In the eighth, the Aviators broke the game open with three runs on a sacrifice fly and a two-run single off RHP Luis Contreras (L, 1-1), making it 4-1 Las Vegas.
The Space Cowboys could not get to RHP Gerardo Reyes (W, 2-0) in the seventh and eighth, and RHP Grant Holman (S, 2) came in to close the game out in the ninth. León got on base with a single, and two groundouts sent him to third with Dixon Machado as Sugar Land’s last hope. Holman got a strikeout to end the contest and serve the Space Cowboys their first loss of the season in a game that Gordon started.
The Space Cowboys will play a doubleheader against the Las Vegas Aviators Saturday night. Sugar Land’s game one starter is TBA while Las Vegas will throw RHP J.T. Ginn (1-3, 7.03). Game two will commence approximately 30 minutes after the conclusioin of game one. LHP Eric Lauer (2-2, 5.79) will take the mound against Las Vegas’ RHP Robert Dugger (3-0, 4.78). 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.