Sugar Land Drops Series Finale Against Las Vegas

A night after walking it off and evening up the series, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (58-34, 9-8) took the 9-4 loss in the final game against the Las Vegas Aviators (46-46, 9-8) Sunday night at Constellation Field.

In a spot start for the Space Cowboys, RHP Cesar Gomez took the mound in the first and with two runners on, gave up his first run of the night on an RBI single from Jordan Diaz. It was not long until the Space Cowboys countered back with their own RBI base hit off Oakland A’s rehabber RHP Ross Stripling in the bottom half of the frame from Chris Gittens, scoring Omar Narváez from second.

The Aviators broke the tie in the top of the second when Gomez issued a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Noda and tacked on another run with a second RBI single from Diaz, but the Space Cowboys knotted things back up after Cooper Hummel and Shay Whitcomb started the third with back-to-back singles. Narváez got the first run back by driving in Hummel on a base hit, moving Whitcomb to third. Pedro León brought home the tying run on a deep fly ball to left field, evening the score at three.

With RHP Nick Hernandez (L, 1-2) on the mound in the fourth, Nick Allen put the Aviators ahead on a single to send Jacob Wilson home, and Las Vegas would also score a pair on a double from Noda in the sixth to extend their lead to 6-3.

The Space Cowboys cut their deficit down to 6-4 when two consecutive walks to David Hensley and Luke Berryhill put two on in the bottom of the sixth. Hensley and Berryhill pulled off a double steal of second and third base, and a throwing error from Aviators catcher Carlos Pérez allowed Hensley to race home.

The double steal getting things going! pic.twitter.com/YQoDODqvg3

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) July 15, 2024

RHP Forrest Whitley came in for the seventh, looking to extend his perfect outing streak to four. The righty got the first out with ease and struck out Logan Davidson, but a throwing error from the catcher Berryhill allowed Davidson to reach. Perez walked, and Yohel Pozo grounded out to move the runners to second and third for Hoy Park. Park put a gap in the score by hitting a three-run home run to widen the Aviators lead to 9-4.

LHP Brady Basso (S, 1) came in with two outs in the sixth and the bases loaded and shut down the Space Cowboys offense for the remainder of the game. The lefty allowed just three hits and a walk to carry the Aviators over the finish line to complete the 9-4 win and serve the Space Cowboys just their fourth series loss of the year.

The Space Cowboys are off for the next four days for the All-Star Break and will return to action Friday night in El Paso against the Chihuahuas. Both starters are TBA for a 7:35 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