Sugar Land Runs Their Way To 8-3 Win Over Reno

April 28, 2024 – Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sugar Land Space Cowboys News Release

RENO, NV – The Sugar Land Cowboys (18-8) took game five against the Reno Aces (12-13) 8-3 at Greater Nevada Field on Saturday, winning their third in a row to secure a fourth-consecutive series victory. [?Folder icon] Highlight’s of tonight’s game can be found here .

The Space Cowboys broke the game open in the fourth inning, when Pedro León launched a solo home run to lead off the frame, soaring 479 feet, the longest home run in all of professional baseball this season and León’s third of the year. With runners on the corners, César Salazar knocked in Corey Julks and Will Wagner to extend the Space Cowboys lead to 3-0.

In the fifth, León led off the inning with a walk and proceeded to steal second and third base, along with a Julks walk and stolen base to put runners on second and third. Wagner then hit a sacrifice fly that allowed León to cross home. The Space Cowboys found themselves in another bases-loaded situation for Jacob Amaya, who knocked in a run on another sacrifice fly to bring the Sugar Land advantage to 5-0.

RHP Misael Tamarez (W, 3-1) spun 5.0 brilliant innings, giving up just four hits with eight strikeouts, including five straight strikeouts from the first through the third. RHP Dylan Coleman relieved Tamarez in the sixth and found himself in a jam after walking the first three Reno batters to give the Aces momentum. LHP Bryan King (H,4) came in work out of the jam and induce a double play to Tristin English to trade a run for two outs. A single from Kolten Wong gave the Aces another run, but King got the last strikeout to end Reno’s threat and keep the score at 5-2.

Back-to-back balks in the seventh forced in Julks to give Sugar Land an extra insurance run. In the top of the eighth, with two runners on, León drove a liner off the glove of Aces third baseman Andrés Chaparro, dribbling into left field to give Hensley enough time to score. With Loperfido on second and León at first, a double steal was successfully executed, aided by a throwing error from Reno’s catcher Jose Herrera that allowed Loperfido to race home to make it 8-2.

The Aces got a run back on a sacrifice fly from Wong off RHP Logan VanWey, but that would be all the Aces would score as RHP Wander Suero came in to get two strikeouts and a flyout to end the contest.

All told, the Space Cowboys stole a season-best six bases on Saturday, with León swiping three of them. He now has nine steals…