Space Cowboys fall in extras after Pecko’s strong start

Sugar Land went from a 21-run eruption to a 3-2 extra-inning grind in one night, and the swing in fortune was as stark as it gets in Triple-A. Ethan Pecko gave the Space Cowboys exactly the kind of start that usually turns chaos into a win, but Drew Avans ended it with a walk-off single in the 10th as Albuquerque escaped Thursday afternoon at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park, the ballpark nicknamed The Lab and opened in 2003.

The loss dropped Sugar Land to 31-40, a setback that stung because the offense had just battered Albuquerque 21-8 the previous night with a season-high 21 runs and a franchise-record-tying 14 extra-base hits. Instead of carrying that momentum forward, the Space Cowboys were forced into a one-run, extra-frame test that exposed how thin the margin is when the bats cool and every late-inning decision matters.

Pecko was the center of the story. The 23-year-old Houston Astros sixth-round pick out of Towson turned in his second straight seven-inning outing, allowing one run on four hits over 7.0 innings while striking out five. He retired 11 straight batters from the third through the seventh and worked a season-high 91 pitches, 63 for strikes, while touching 96.8 mph. Over his last three games, Pecko has now thrown 18.0 innings, allowed only nine hits and one run, and struck out 12, a run of form that strengthens his case as one of the more dependable arms in the Houston system.

Sugar Land finally broke through in the seventh when Pascanel Ferreras singled, stole second, and then scored the game-tying run after César Salazar and Cavan Biggio drew walks to load the bases for Collin Price. The Space Cowboys took the lead in the eighth on Salazar’s triple that brought Ferreras home, and Miguel Ullola held Albuquerque scoreless in the ninth to keep the door open.

That door still slammed shut. Albuquerque tied it in the eighth, then won it in the 10th after the automatic runner moved into scoring position for Avans, the 29-year-old outfielder who made his MLB debut on May 27, 2025. Ferreras added one more note to the night by extending his hitting streak to 13 games and going 22-for-47 since joining Sugar Land. But the final frame belonged to Albuquerque, and for a Space Cowboys club that won its first Triple-A title in 2024, this was the kind of missed chance that can echo when Houston starts weighing depth and promotion options.