SUGAR LAND – The Sugar Land Space Cowboys landed at Constellation Field. on Tuesday for their first-ever home game, opening a new era of baseball as the Houston Astros Triple A affiliate. They nearly chased a six-run deficit early in the contest, eventually losing 7-6 to the Round Rock Express.
The Space Cowboys scored two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh to narrow the margin. JJ Matijevic delivered his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field in the seventh. Matijevic finished the night 2-for-4 with a season-best four RBI.
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Hunter Brown kept Round Rock bats in check to finish out the game, striking out seven batters through five scoreless innings in a piggyback relief effort. Brown – rated as the Astros’ No. 3 prospect by MLB.com – threw three pitches that registered at least 99 mph.
Round Rock scored a pair in the first and the Space Cowboys countered with an RBI double from Korey Lee in their half of the inning. The Express scored five unanswered runs until Matijevic drove in a pair with a single in the fifth. Michael Papierski drove in Alex De Goti with a single in the sixth, leading up to Matijevic’s homer in the seventh.
The Space Cowboys will send left-hander Jonathan Bermudez to the mound at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday at Constellation Field. Round Rock is scheduled to start right-hander AJ Alexy.