Isotopes Hold off Sugar Land for 10-8 Victory

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PCL Albuquerque Isotopes

Isotopes Hold off Sugar Land for 10-8 Victory

June 1, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Albuquerque Isotopes News Release


Albuquerque, NM - Trailing 4-2 in the middle of the fourth inning, the Isotopes plated eight unanswered runs over the next four frames to build a seemingly insurmountable 10-4 lead over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

However, the Space Cowboys mounted a furious rally, scoring four times in the ninth inning - headlined by a bases-clearing double from Brice Matthews. With two outs and the deficit trimmed to 10-8, the bases were loaded for Fernando Caldera - who had never played a game above Single-A prior to Saturday. Evan Justice fell behind in the count 3-0 before eventually inducing a weak grounder to end the contest.

Offensively, Ryan Ritter again led the way by going 2-for-3 with five RBI - including a two-run homer to right. Adael Amador chipped in three RBI of his own from the second spot in the batting order.

Topes Scope: - Ritter extended his hitting streak to 16 games, the longest active in all of Triple-A. He is slashing ..451/.500/1.042 with nine doubles, three triples, nine homers, and 27 RBI during the stretch. Ritter has at least one extra-base hit in 14 of his last 15 contests. Ritter's batting average is .303, an 85-point increase from the .218 mark when this stretch began May 14. Additionally, Ritter has reached base in 22-straight games, tied for the longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League with his teammate Keston Hiura who was called up Saturday.

- During the month of May, Ritter led all of Minor League Baseball in total bases (89), extra-base hits (25), slugging percentage (.918), tied with Shay Whitcomb for the lead in home runs (12), and ranked second in RBI (31) and OPS (1.363).

- Ritter is the seventh player in Isotopes history to record at least 16 home runs by the end of May, and first since Sam Hilliard had 18 by this point in 2019. Others include Rob Stratton (19 - 2003), Scott Seabol (16 - 2006), Valentino Pascucci (16 - 2007), Dallas McPherson (17 - 2008) and Mitch Jones (16 - 2009).

- Saturday marked Ritter's eighth game with multiple RBI in his last 15 contests. Additionally, he tied a career-high with five runs batted in, also reached April 23, 2024 against the Portland Sea Dogs.

- Julio Carreras tallied his seventh multi-hit performance of the season and first at home since May 4 vs. Salt Lake. Carreras is slashing .344/.429/.433 with six extra-base hits in his last 29 games.

- Carreras scored four runs to tie a season-high for any Isotope (last: Sterlin Thompson, May 16 vs. Tacoma). Carreras has done it twice in 2025 (also: April 23 at Reno).

- Amador tallied three RBI in a game for the first time since Aug. 15, 2024 vs. Somerset. He has hit safely in 10 of 12 contests at Triple-A this season.

- Yanquiel Fernández was 0-for-3 with two walks, bringing an end to his 11-game hitting streak. Fernández slashed .432/.490/.636 with six doubles, a homer, and six RBI during the stretch, his longest since a 14-gamer with High-A Spokane from May 31-June 16, 2023.

- Sean Bouchard has been held hitless in back-to-back games for just the 10th time in his Triple-A career.

- Rockies No. 15 prospect Gabriel Hughes made his Triple-A debut, starting and working 5.2 innings of six-hit, four-run ball (three earned). He is the 47th different player to appear in a game for the Isotopes this season.

- Justice recorded only the second save of his professional career in 103 appearances. His other save was April 18, 2023 for Spokane at Tri-City.

- Sugar Land starter A.J. Blubaugh was the fifth opposing pitcher to issue at least four walks in a game this year (last: Michael Kopech at OKC - May 8, five).

- Albuquerque tagged Blubaugh for six hits and five runs in 3.2 frames. Last year, Blubaugh faced the Isotopes three times and worked a total of 16.1 innings while allowing seven combined hits and two earned runs, winning all of his starts.

- The Isotopes scored in double digits for the fourth time in their last six games, after accomplishing the feat just once in the previous 24 contests.

- The Isotopes tallied just a pair of extra-base hits, their 19th time finishing with two or fewer this season (last: May 28 vs. Sugar Land, two).

- With the victory, Albuquerque is 11-12 in games decided by two runs or fewer. This was their first occurrence since May 24 at Reno (8-7 win), ending a stretch in which 10 of 16 contests were settled by exactly one run.

- Albuquerque won their 25th game Saturday. Last season, they did not reach the mark until June 21.

- With a victory on Sunday, the Isotopes would claim their first-ever series victory over Sugar Land (this is the 19th all-time set). This is the fifth time Albuquerque has won three of the first five games in a series against the Space Cowboys (also: Aug. 12-16, 2021; May 31-June 4, 2022; June 28-July 2, 2022; Aug. 20-24, 2024).

- The Isotopes have not won a set against Houston's Triple-A affiliate (Fresno, Round Rock, Sugar Land) since sweeping the Grizzlies from Aug. 20-23, 2016. A total of 27 series have been completed since then.

On Deck: The Isotopes and Space Cowboys finish their six-game series on Sunday night, with a 6:05 pm first pitch. Isotopes Pride Hats will be given to the first 1,500 fans, courtesy of iRepairNM. Left-handed pitcher Brandon Walter is slated to start for Sugar Land, opposed by Albuquerque right-hander Andrew Quezada.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 1, 2025


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