Sugar Land rallies past Oklahoma City with eighth-inning burst

Oklahoma City had the opener within reach after Chuckie Robinson tied it in the seventh, but Sugar Land slammed the door in the eighth. A double started the inning, an RBI single followed, and Jack Winkler crushed a two-run homer that flipped a tense 2-2 game into a 5-2 lead and sent the Space Cowboys to a 5-3 victory at Constellation Field.

The setback came Wednesday night in Sugar Land, Texas, and it erased a real chance for the Comets to steal the first game of the series after they had trailed 2-0. Sugar Land scored once in the third inning and once in the sixth, then watched Oklahoma City claw back when Robinson hit a two-run homer off rehabbing six-time All-Star Josh Hader in the seventh. That swing briefly shifted momentum to the visitors and made the late innings feel like a one-run chess match.

Instead, Sugar Land delivered the kind of eighth inning that can define a road trip. The Space Cowboys kept putting traffic on the bases until Winkler’s shot changed everything. Oklahoma City still threatened in the ninth, when Zach Ehrhard lined an RBI single with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate, but the rally stopped there and the Comets left with a missed opportunity after getting back to even.

Ehrhard was the bright spot for Oklahoma City, finishing 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. The performance tied his season high in hits and stretched his hitting streak to nine games and his on-base streak to 18. Robinson’s homer was his second of the season, and he has now driven in 11 runs over his last five games. Ryan Fitzgerald went 2-for-4 and extended his on-base streak to 19 games, while Tyler Fitzgerald’s 13-game hitting streak ended.

The loss snapped Oklahoma City’s season-high five-game road winning streak and came after the Comets had lost only three times in their previous 12 games overall. The pitching staff still struck out nine, its eighth straight game reaching that mark, but one late inning overshadowed enough solid work to swing the series opener back to Sugar Land. The night also followed a very different script Tuesday, when Oklahoma City rolled to a 12-1 win, powered by Noah Miller’s first career grand slam.