Whitcomb's Go-Ahead Home Blast Rallies Sugar Land Past Tacoma
Powered by a six-run resurgence late in the game, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (51-27, 2-1) stormed back against the Tacoma Rainiers (44-34, 1-2) to take the contest 9-6 at Constellation Field on Thursday night. The Space Cowboys started their comeback in the eighth inning in a 6-3 hole when
Powered by a six-run resurgence late in the game, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (51-27, 2-1) stormed back against the Tacoma Rainiers (44-34, 1-2) to take the contest 9-6 at Constellation Field on Thursday night.
The Space Cowboys started their comeback in the eighth inning in a 6-3 hole when RHP Brett de Geus (L, 0-2) loaded the bases on two hits and a walk. Dixon Machado worked a free pass to force Pedro León home and Ryan Wrobleski grounded into an out at second to bring Sugar Land within one. With runners on the corners, Quincy Hamilton drove in his second of the night to tie the score up at six. Shay Whitcomb then demolished a 1-0 cutter from de Geus 414 feet out of the ballpark to give the Space Cowboys their largest lead of the night at 9-6. RHP Kaleb Ort (S, 1) worked around a lead-off triple from Jonatan Clase and closed out the game with two strikeouts and pop out, Sugar Land’s 25th come-from-behind win of the season and their first of the second half.
SHAY WHITCOMB GO-AHEAD MONSTER SHOT ARE YOU KIDDING pic.twitter.com/sZ7MFjLrZd
— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) June 28, 2024
Tacoma got on the board first with a solo bomb off the bat of Luis Urías. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Will Wagner knocked a double down the right-field line to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, tying the longest hit streak of the Space Cowboys this season. León drove in Wagner with a single to tie the game up at one.
Sugar Land took their first lead of the night with a base hit from Hamilton to drive in Omar Narváez from second base, but Tacoma knotted it right back up at two apiece with a home run from Clase. Whitcomb got things rolling in the fifth with a one-out single to center field, then stole second and third base to put a runner in scoring position for León, who brought in another run on a base hit.
RHP AJ Blubaugh pitched his second-straight quality start, spinning 6.0 frames of five-hit ball, with the only two runs allowed coming from a pair of solo shots. In the seventh, RHP Logan VanWey took over and surrendered two runs on a double from Cade Marloweand a single from Urías. The righty returned for the eighth and put runners on first and third, ending his night after getting one out in the frame. RHP Nick Hernandez (W, 1-0) threw a wild pitch to score one and a sacrifice fly from Leo Rivas extended Tacoma’s lead to 6-3.
The Space Cowboys play their fourth of a six-game set against the Tacoma Rainiers Friday night. LHP Eric Lauer (1-2, 7.13) will take the mound in a 7:05 pm CT first pitch against Tacoma’s RHP Casey Lawrence (4-6, 5.75). 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.