The Sugar Land Space Cowboys dropped game one of their six-game homestand against the Albuquerque Isotopes, 7-5, in 10 innings on Tuesday night.
The Space Cowboys wasted no time jumping out to an early lead. Kellen Strahm worked a walk and then proceeded to steal his ninth base of the season. With a runner on Shay Whitcomb hit a home run deep to left field in his first at bat back with Sugar Land, giving the Space Cowboys a 2-0 edge.
Albuquerque responded in the top of the third after working a plethora of walks to score their first run of the game trimming the deficit to one.
Sugar Land went into the bottom of the third up 2-1 and continued their momentum as Strahm and James Nelson both worked walks to set the stage for the Space Cowboys. CJ Alexander singled to center field knocking home the third run of the game for Sugar Land and pushing their lead to 3-1.
The Space Cowboys struck again in the fourth inning after Collin Price works a walk, stole second, and then advances to third on a throwing error. With a runner on third, Riley Unroe hits a single, pushing the Sugar Land advantage to three and making the score 4-1.
The Isotopes would load the bases before taking advantage of an error to score three runs in the top of the fifth tying the game at 4-4.
RHP Tatsuya Imai tossed three innings only allowing one hit, one run, and struck out three. LHP Josh Hader threw a hitless inning allowing no hits, no runs, and striking out one. RHP Alimber Santa tossed a hitless inning of his own, allowing no runs, and striking out three.
The game remained tied through regulation and the Space Cowboys would go into their eighth extra-inning contest of the season. The Isotopes got a home run and a couple of walks before a wild pitch would allow them to score their third run of the inning, giving them the three run lead. Although Cavan Biggio was able to hit an RBI single, Sugar Land was unable to mount a comeback in the bottom half of the inning dropping game one of the six game series with Albuquerque by a score of 7-5.
NOTABLE:
- Kellen Strahm went 0-for-2 with three walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base. This marks his ninth stolen base of the season which is tied for fourth in the Pacific Coast League.
- James Nelson went 0-for-3 on Tuesday night but worked two walks to push his on-base streak to 15, tied for the 11th longest active on-base streak in the Pacific Coast League.
Sugar Land looks to even the series tomorrow on Wednesday when RHP Miguel Ullola is set to take the mound for Sugar Land while Albuquerque has yet to announce a starting pitcher for a 11:05 am CT first pitch. The game 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.