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PCL Sacramento River Cats

Errors Costly as Cats Fall to Space Cowboys

June 17, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sacramento River Cats News Release


SUGAR LAND, Tex. - While the Sacramento River Cats scored first with a run to begin the ballgame, it was the Sugar Land Space Cowboys that scored most as they snapped Sacramento's previous three-game winning streak with a 10-3 victory on Saturday.

Right away the River Cats (32-36) took the lead, with Bryce Johnson setting the tone on a leadoff double to left field. Tyler Fitzgerald moved him to third on a single, and Joey Bart collected the game's first RBI on a sacrifice fly to deep left field.

Sacramento starter Joey Marciano (4-2) was able to dance out of danger in the first, striking out the final batter after loading the bases with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. However, he was not as lucky in the second frame after each of the first two Space Cowboys (31-37) hitters reached on a throwing error and a free pass. Marciano would be lifted in favor of Phoenix Sanders following a pair of Marciano outs, but another throwing error resulted in both inherited runs scoring for a 2-1 Sugar Land lead.

Just an inning later, the Space Cowboys added an insurance run to its night as Justin Dirden hit a solo home run over the wall in left-center field. Despite already holding the lead, the homer marked the first Sugar Land hit of the night, similar to yesterday's contest in which their first hit was a solo home run in the fifth from J.J. Matijevic.

Not finished with the inning, a two-out throwing error by Sanders kept the third alive for the Space Cowboys which they capitalized on with a pair of knocks. The second of those two hits was an RBI double to left field from Luke Berryhill, doubling Sugar Land's run total for a 4-1 advantage.

Sacramento was in prime position to counter after Jacob Nottingham sent a double into the right-center gap and Wilson walked to start the fourth, but Nick Allgeyer battled through it and induced a pair of flyouts before closing the inning with a punchout.

In fact, Allgeyer found his groove as he closed that fourth inning, as he retired each of the next nine River Cats that he faced prior to exiting the ballgame following the sixth. Snapping that streak was Ford Proctor when he singled off Blake Taylor to open the seventh, but he was quickly erased on a double play before one last ground ball brought an end to the frame.

Meanwhile, Sugar Land tallied their biggest inning of the game in the sixth, scoring three times thanks to an RBI double, a sacrifice fly, and a throwing error on a pickoff play. The Space Cowboys also added solo shots in both the next two innings, the first a leadoff from Joe Perez in the seventh while David Hensley joined him with his own in the eighth.

A duo of one-out walks came around to score as the River Cats tried to build a comeback in the ninth, the first on an RBI double from Ricardo Genoves. Meanwhile, the other crossed on an RBI groundout from Clint Coulter, who saw his six-game hitting streak come to an end after going 0-for-4. That led the score to its final resting place of 10-3.

By the end of the night the River Cats had committed five errors, their most in a game this season, which ties a franchise record that has happened eight other times. The last instance came nearly four years ago to the day on June 18, 2019 in a 7-4 loss at the hands of the Iowa Cubs at Sutter Health Park.

Posting the only multi-hit game was Fitzgerald who was 2-for-4, Genoves had his late RBI double, and the duo of Coulter and Bart each produced an RBI without a hit.

This six-game series concludes tomorrow at Constellation Field as Sacramento looks for a series win while Sugar Land aims for a split.

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