Cabbage and Gordon Help Power Space Cowboys to 8-3 Win

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Sugar Land Space Cowboys

Cabbage and Gordon Help Power Space Cowboys to 8-3 Win

September 4, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sugar Land Space Cowboys News Release


OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - For a second consecutive night, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (84-49, 35-23) got a quality outing from their starting pitcher and paired it with plenty of late offense in an 8-3 win over the Oklahoma City Baseball Club (70-64, 30-29) on Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. [?Folder icon] Highlights of tonight's game can be found here.

The first four innings of the game were dominated by the starting pitchers, with LHP Colton Gordon (W, 8-1) hurling four perfect frames to begin his evening with four strikeouts. Meanwhile, RHP Hyun-il Choi (L, 4-5) walked just one batter in his first three innings and worked around a couple of singles and a double steal in the fourth to take the game scoreless to the fifth.

Sugar Land finally broke through in the top of the fifth inning. Quincy Hamilton led of the inning with a single but was left at first thanks to back-to-back good catches from the Oklahoma City fielders. However, Grae Kessinger ripped a single into center, and Trey Cabbage followed with a single to left center that plated Hamilton, putting Sugar Land up 1-0.

Gordon allowed his first hit of the night when Kody Hoese singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Hoese also got the first hit of the game on Tuesday night, breaking up RHP Ryan Gusto's bid at a no-hitter after 4.1 innings. Gordon sat down the next five batters in a row and gave up just one more base runner, a two-out single to Drew Avans in the sixth, that was followed by a strikeout of Andre Lipcius to end Gordon's night. The southpaw hurled 6.0 shutout innings for Sugar Land, giving up just two singles without walking a batter and striking out seven for his fifth quality start of the year.

In the top of the sixth, Jacob Melton reached on an infield single and Cooper Hummel doubled to the left-field gap, easily scoring Melton from first to make it 2-0. The Space Cowboys doubled their advantage again in the seventh when Kessinger worked a one-out walk and Cabbage uncorked a two-run homer to right, his 12th of the year with Sugar Land, to push the Space Cowboys to a 4-0 advantage.

Recently activated RHP Glenn Otto Jr. made his first appearance in the Astros' organization when he came on in relief of Gordon to open the bottom of the seventh. Otto struck out the first hitter he faced, but a double and a two-out single drove in a run to break up the shutout bid for Sugar Land. The Spring, TX native rebounded by striking out Alex Freeland to maintain the Space Cowboys 4-1 lead.

The offense kept humming for Sugar Land in the top of the eighth thanks to a single by Hummel and an RBI double to the gap by Hamilton, moving the Space Cowboys back in front by a quartet at 5-1. Tommy Sacco Jr. beat the shift with a single the other way, and after the runners advanced on a groundout by Omar Narváez, a wild pitch allowed Hamilton to race in and score, ballooning the Space Cowboys margin to 6-1.

RHP Shawn Dubin was called upon for the bottom of the eighth inning, but the right-hander found trouble on an infield single and two walks that loaded up the bases with one out. Dalton Rushing dropped an opposite-field double into left that scored two and cut Sugar Land's lead to 6-3. RHP Luis Contreras (S, 2) took over with the tying run at the plate and struck out Hoese on three pitches before inducing a groundout from James Outman that ended the scoring threat.

Cabbage walked to start the ninth inning, his fourth consecutive trip to the plate that he reached on Wednesday night, and Pedro León put the finishing touches on the contest with a two-run homer down the left-field line, his 23rd of the year, giving Sugar Land an 8-3 lead. Contreras returned for the bottom of the ninth and sat the side down in order, striking out two more to cap his 1.2 innings scoreless innings of relief.

Winners of nine of their last 10 games, the Space Cowboys continue their six-game series against Oklahoma City on Thursday night. Sugar Land has not named a starter while OKC is scheduled to send RHP Jon Duplantier (2-1, 4.91) to the hill for a 7:05 pm CT first pitch at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The game can be heard on ESPN 92.5 FM or online here and seen on MiLB.TV, MLB.TV or Bally Live.

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