Behind RHP Jason Alexander’s season-high eight strikeouts, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (29-13, 61-55) defeated the Round Rock Express (24-18, 55-62) 4-1 on Thursday night at Dell Diamond.
Alexander allowed his first hit of the game with a one-out single to Danny Jansen in the first, but proceed to strikeout the next six-consecutive batters. His streak came to an end in the bottom of the third when Keyber Rodriguez launched a solo home run to left field. Alexander would respond by surrendering just one more hit, a leadoff double in the fourth, and faced one over the minimum in the rest of his outing, firing 6.0 innings en route to his fourth quality start of the season.
The Space Cowboys gave their starter the lead in the top of the sixth. Joey Loperfido led off the inning with a walk before Trenton Brooks and Zach Cole followed with back-to-back RBI doubles, giving Sugar Land a 2-1 advantage.
RHP Kai-Wei Teng took over in the seventh and struck out the side, part of 2.0 perfect innings from the right-hander on 26 pitches.
Sugar Land added two more runs in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Raynel Delgado singled and stole second to move into scoring position. Loperfido then drew his second walk of the night before CJ Alexander followed with a two-run double, extending the Space Cowboys’ lead to 4-1.
RHP Roddery Muñoz closed out the victory in the ninth, inducing two groundouts and a flyout to secure his eight save of the season.
NOTABLE:
- RHP Jason Alexander tossed 6.0 innings, allowing three hits and one run while walking one and striking out a season-high eight batters. During his outing, Alexander struck out six consecutive batters, tying the single-game franchise record for consecutive strikeouts, previously set by AJ Blubaugh (June 29, 2025 at El Paso), Brandon Walter (June 1, 2025 at Albuquerque) and Spencer Arrighetti (July 28, 2023 at Las Vegas). This marked Alexander’s fourth quality start of the season, which leads Sugar Land, and his first eight-strikeout performance since August 28, 2025, when he was with Houston against Colorado.
- CJ Alexander went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI on Thursday night, extending his RBI streak to 10 games, tying Will Wagner for the longest RBI streak in Space Cowboys’ history. Alexander has now reached safely in 13 consecutive games, has a 10-game hitting streak and has recorded an extra-base hit in seven- straight games. Over his last 13 games, Alexander is batting .346 (18-for-52) with six doubles, seven home runs, 23 RBI, eight walks and 12 runs scored.
- Zach Cole went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI on Thursday night. Cole, who was reinstated from the Injured List on August 11, recorded his first extra-base hit since June 24 against El Paso and his first RBI since June 25 against El Paso.
- For the second consecutive game, the Sugar Land pitching staff did not allow a hit over the final five innings.
- RHP Kai-Wei Teng tied his longest outing of the season and his season high in strikeouts with the Space Cowboys, tossing 2.0 perfect innings with three strikeouts.
- RHP Roddery Muñoz tossed a scoreless ninth inning to earn his eighth save of the season. = Muñoz has converted each of his last seven save chances and is tied for third in the Pacific Coast League in saves.
Sugar Land will look to win its third straight game on Friday night. RHP Jackson Nezuh will start for the Space Cowboys, while Round Rock will counter with RHP David Davalillo. First pitch at Dell Diamond is set for 7:05 pm CT. The game can be seen on the Bally Sports Live app and MiLB.TV and can be heard online anywhere at SLSpaceCowboys.com/Listen.
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, winning their first Triple-A title in 2024 by clinching both the Pacific Coast League Championship and Triple-A National Championship. 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). Season ticket plans for the 2026 season are available now and can be purchased at slspacecowboys.com/tickets.