Matthews' Grand Slam Helps Sugar Land Split Doubleheader with Express
PCL Sugar Land Space Cowboys

Matthews' Grand Slam Helps Sugar Land Split Doubleheader with Express

Published on September 11, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sugar Land Space Cowboys News Release


ROUND ROCK, TX - Behind a five-RBI game from Brice Matthews, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (31-32, 70-68) split their doubleheader with the Round Rock Express (36-28, 70-69) on Wednesday night at Dell Diamond, falling 5-3 in Game One before taking Game Two, 7-4.

GAME ONE

Sugar Land threatened in the first inning when Matthews walked to lead off the game and stole second. However, he was left stranded as the next three Space Cowboys went in order. RHP Cory Abbott gave Sugar Land life in the second when Zack Short walked with one out and Collin Price singled to center with two outs, putting men on the edges, but a strikeout left both runners.

RHP Tyler Ivey (L, 4-10) navigated around traffic in the first inning thanks to an outfield assist by Zach Cole and left two men on base in scoreless second inning. The righty surrendered his only runs in the third when Alex De Goti walked and Billy McKinney sent De Goti to third on a single to right, putting men on the edges with no outs. Justin Foscue then line a ball to deep left field that popped out of the left fielders' glove and over the eight-foot wall for a three-run homer, giving the Express an early 3-0 lead.

In the ensuing inning, Jon Singleton just missed a solo homer to start the frame, blasting a double off the right-field wall. Two batters later, Edwin Díaz uncorked a two-run homer to left, his sixth of the season, pulling the Space Cowboys within a run at 3-2. Kenedy Corona then knocked a two-out single and stole second but was marooned on a strikeout by Abbott.

The Express tacked on two more runs in the sixth thanks to three straight walks and a base hit from Aaron Zavala that pushed Round Rock to a 5-2 advantage. Corona led off the seventh with a solo homer to left, but RHP Dane Acker (W, 4-1) struck out the side to finish off a 5-3 win for the Express.

GAME TWO

Facing RHP Ben Anderson (L, 1-4), the Space Cowboys jumped on the right-hander in the first inning. Cole worked a one-out walk, Shay Whitcomb singled to left and Jacob Melton walked, loading up the bases for Matthews. The second baseman clobbered the first pitch of his at bat 390 feet to left for a grand slam, staking Sugar Land to a 4-0 lead five hitters into the contest.

As part of a bullpen game for Sugar Land, RHP Michael Knorr was selected to start and turned in a dominant outing over 2.0 perfect innings. The righty struck out two in a 1-2-3 first, throwing 13 of 16 pitches for strikes, before striking out the side in the second, including two looking. All told, Knorr fired 35 pitches with 29 strikes and got into an 0-2 count to five of the six hitters he faced.

An error by Zavala to start the third inning put Whitcomb on second for the Space Cowboys and Melton doubled him home to push Sugar Land's lead to 5-0. A Singleton base hit to right easily plated Melton from second, expanding the Space Cowboys margin to 6-0 after three innings.

RHP Rhett Kouba (W, 4-3) took over for Knorr in the third and sat down the first five batters he faced before allowing a solo homer to left by Abimelec Ortiz. Sugar Land's righty stranded a runner at third in the fifth thanks to a double play and worked around a two-RBI double from Ortiz in the sixth to finish off 4.0 innings and maintain Sugar Land's lead at 6-3.

In the seventh, Whitcomb collected his second hit of the night but was canceled out on a fielder's choice from Melton. The center fielder stole second and scored with a head-first slide into home on a single to right by Matthews, once again widening Sugar Land's lead to four runs. Zavala connected for a two-out inside-the-park home run for Round Rock in the bottom of the seventh, but RHP Jordan Weems collected the final out to secure Sugar Land's split with the Express.

NOTABLE:

Brice Matthews grand slam was his first career grand slam, and his five RBI are a new single-game career best in the Minors. It was the fifth grand slam of the season for the Space Cowboys and the second in the last six days, with Zach Cole hitting a walk-off grand slam on September 4 vs. OKC. Five different players have hit a grand slam for Sugar Land this year, and Matthews' grand slam was the sixth hit by a Space Cowboys' player at Dell Diamond in franchise history (since 2021).

With a steal in Game One on Wednesday, Brice Matthews now has 36 stolen bases with Sugar Land in 2025. He is two steals shy of tying Pedro León's single-season franchise record of 38 stolen bases (2022).

Zach Cole extended his on-base streak to nine games by reaching base in both legs of the doubleheader, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases in Game One and 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Game Two. Cole has reached base multiple times in eight of nine games, going 11-for-32 (.344/.475) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, 11 RBI, four runs scored, eight walks and three stolen bases in four attempts.

In their first three games against Round Rock, the Space Cowboys are 13-for-14 in stolen base attempts. No other team in the Pacific Coast League has stolen five bases in the first two days of the week, and only the Arkansas Travelers (11) and Nashville Sounds (11) have stolen double-digit bases in the minors so far this week.

Jacob Melton extended his hitting streak with Sugar Land to five games and his on-base streak to 10 games by going 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI, two stolen bases, two walks and three runs scored in Game Two on Wednesday night. In his two games since being optioned back to Sugar Land on September 6, Melton is 3-for-7 with a double, an RBI, four runs scored, two walks, no strikeouts and four stolen bases in four attempts.

Michael Knorr tied his longest Triple-A outing by firing 2.0 perfect frames in Game Two, matching the 2.0 innings he threw on July 22 at El Paso. His five strikeouts were a season high at any level and the most strikeouts for Knorr in an outing since he struck out six on June 1, 2024 at Midland over 5.0 innings in a start with Corpus Christi.

Kenedy Corona's home run in the seventh inning of Game One was his seventh of the season but his first since May 29 at Albuquerque, snapping a 65-game drought without a long ball.

Dating back to August 28, the Space Cowboys have homered in 13 of their last 14 games, launching 22 homers in that stretch, the most in the Pacific Coast League since August 28 and tied for the most in Minor League Baseball with the Durham Bulls over that span. This comes while the Space Cowboys have not played a game at altitude, playing 11 games at Constellation Field and three games at Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

Trailing 2-1 in the series, Sugar Land continues their tilt against the Express on Thursday. LHP Colton Gordon is scheduled to start for the Space Cowboys while Round Rock has not announced a starter. The game can be seen live on the Bally Sports Live App or MLB.TV and can be heard anywhere at SLSpaceCowboys.com.

Check out the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from September 11, 2025


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