Mancini Spins Quality Outing in First Triple-A Start

A quality start from RHP Joey Mancini helped the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (32-38, 71-74) carry a 2-2 tie into the seventh before falling 13-2 to the El Paso Chihuahuas (41-29, 79-66) on Wednesday night at Constellation Field.

For a second consecutive night, the Space Cowboys got out to a lead in the first. Brice Matthews worked a lead-off walk before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error. Shay Whitcomb drove in Matthews with a groundout, putting Sugar Land up 1-0.

The Space Cowboys added to their lead in the third thanks to a one-out double by Pedro León followed by a two-out double to right by Jacob Melton, pushing the lead to 2-0.

In his first Triple-A start, Mancini stranded a pair of runners in a scoreless first before firing a 1-2-3 second inning and striking out two in a scoreless third inning. Mancini allowed his only runs of the night in the fourth on a pair of singles, a sacrifice bunt and a two-RBI single from Trenton Brooks, tying the game at 2-2. Melton preserved the tie for a second night in a row as he threw out Brooks at home for the final out in the inning.

A Jon Singleton base hit started the home half of the fourth and Zack Short replaced him at first with a fielder’s choice. Colin Barber worked a walk to put the potential go-ahead run at second, but a double play ended the threat.

Mancini finished his night by retiring six of the last seven batters he faced, turning in a quality start over 6.0 innings with two runs allowed and four strikeouts.

El Paso went ahead in the top of the seventh on a base hit from Luis Campusano and added a grand slam to move in front 7-2. The Chihuahuas struck for two more in the eighth and four in the ninth to hand Sugar Land a 13-2 defeat.

NOTABLE:

• In his first Triple-A start, Joey Mancini turned in a quality start, firing 6.0 innings while allowing two runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts. It is the first quality start of the season for Mancini at any level and the second of his Minor League career, after he turned in a quality outing on July 23, 2024 @ Springfield with the Corpus Christi Hooks. Overall, it was the 22^nd quality start by a Space Cowboys’ hurler in 2025.
• Mancini becomes just the second player in Space Cowboys’ history to turn in a quality start in his first career start with Sugar Land, joining RHP Hunter Brown, who fired 6.0 innings and gave up just one run on three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts on August 21, 2021.
• Jacob Melton collected another extra-base hit on Wednesday, going 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI and two walks. Since being optioned to Sugar Land on September 6, Melton has hit safely in six of seven games, going 8-for-23 (.348/.483) with three doubles, two home runs, five RBI, six runs scored, six walks and just three strikeouts.
• Brice Matthews stole second base in the first inning, his 37^th stolen base of the year. Matthews is now just one stolen base from tying Pedro León (2022) for the single season stolen base record in Space Cowboys’ history.

The Space Cowboys continue their final series of the season on Thursday night. RHP Ethan Pecko is set to start against El Paso LHP JP Sears for a 7:05 pm CT first pitch. The game can be seen live on the Bally Sports Live App or MLB.TV and can be heard anywhere at SLSpaceCowboys.com.

ABOUT THE SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS:

The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and compete in the Pacific Coast League. They are the reigning Pacific Coast League Champions and Triple-A National Champions. They began playing as the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate in 2021 and began playing under the Space Cowboys brand in 2022. The Space Cowboys play at Constellation Field, located at the corner of Hwy-6 and US-90 Alternate in Sugar Land, Texas. Follow the team on Twitter (@SLSpaceCowboys), Instagram (@slspacecowboys), Facebook (SLSpaceCowboys), and their official website (slspacecowboys.com). Fans can purchase full-season and partial-season plans for 2025 by visiting slspacecowboys.com/tickets.