Isotopes Blast Space Cowboys 12-2 Behind Early, Late Offensive Barrages

Albuquerque turned a tight start into a rout by keeping pressure on Sugar Land from the first inning until the final out, rolling to a 12-2 win Wednesday at Constellation Field. The Isotopes scored early, added power in the middle innings, then detonated the game with a six-run eighth that made the afternoon look even more lopsided than it already was.

The game opened with a walk, a double and a single that pushed Albuquerque in front 2-0 right away, and the visitors never had to chase the scoreboard. A one-out single in the fourth set up back-to-back home runs from Michael Stephens and Sam Avans, stretching the lead to 5-0 and forcing Sugar Land into catch-up mode before the game had reached the midpoint. Stephens finished with two homers and three RBI, while Avans added the other fourth-inning blast.

Sugar Land got a small answer in the fourth when James Nelson singled and Collin Price worked a walk to help create traffic that led to a run-scoring single and a 5-1 score. Price stayed hot despite the loss, going 1-for-3 with an RBI and extending a four-game hitting streak. Over that stretch, Price has gone 6-for-16 with three home runs, seven RBI, six runs scored and a walk. Nelson also kept his season-long table-setting going, extending his on-base streak to 16 straight games, which the Space Cowboys noted was the 11th-longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League.

The problem for Sugar Land was that Albuquerque never allowed the inning to settle. JP France gave the home club three useful relief innings, allowing one hit and one run while striking out two, but the Isotopes kept stacking quality at-bats and waited for the game to loosen. When it did in the eighth, the floodgates opened. Walks, singles, a double and a sacrifice fly produced six runs in one burst, turning a manageable deficit into a runaway.

The final line told the story of sustained pressure. Albuquerque finished with 12 runs on 12 hits and no errors, drew 11 walks and struck out only five times. Sugar Land managed two runs on six hits and one error, with Carlos Pérez providing the lone late jolt on a ninth-inning solo homer, his fifth of the season. The result pushed Albuquerque to 20-15 and dropped Sugar Land to 17-18, with Colton Gordon slated to start the next game against Sean Sullivan as the series moved on.