Kade Morris gave Sugar Land one hit in the first inning and nothing else. By the time he left the mound Wednesday at Constellation Field, the Las Vegas Aviators had broken open a scoreless game and Morris had completed six shutout innings in a 5-0 victory.
Morris allowed only Brice Matthews’ sharp single to left, struck out five and walked two to improve to 9-5. Both walks came in the fourth, when Jason Schiavone and CJ Alexander reached with two outs, but Morris induced a fly ball from Zach Dezenzo to preserve the scoreless tie.
That was the only inning in which Sugar Land put two runners aboard against him. Morris followed it with two strikeouts and a lineout in the fifth, then retired the top of the Space Cowboys’ order in the sixth to finish his outing.
Sugar Land manager Mickey Story had noted before the game that Constellation Field can reward good pitching only when it is paired with execution.
“Yeah, sure, we do play in a pitcher-friendly ballpark, but I’ve also seen these games go sideways if you don’t execute pitches.”
— Mickey Story, Sugar Land Manager
Las Vegas finally made the game go sideways for Sugar Land in the fifth.
Bryan Lavastida started the threat with his second hit, sending a grounder toward first that carried enough side spin to skip beneath Cavan Biggio’s glove and roll into foul ground. Lavastida reached second with a double, and walks to Jared Dickey and Davis Diaz loaded the bases.
Brandon McPherson struck out Cole Conn for the second out before Trey McLoughlin entered. Darell Hernaiz bounced a ball deep into the hole at third, where Trevor Austin made a backhanded stop but threw on a bounce and past Biggio. Lavastida and Dickey scored on the error, with Diaz stopping at third and Hernaiz sliding safely into second.
Brayan Buelvas made the mistake hurt immediately. He ripped a line drive down the left-field line and into the corner, bringing home Diaz and Hernaiz with a two-run double for a 4-0 lead.
All four runs in the inning were unearned. McPherson took the loss despite allowing no earned runs over 4⅔ innings.
The breakthrough was enough for Morris and more than enough for the Aviators’ bullpen. Hunter Bigge worked around two walks in the seventh, Ben Bowden pitched through a walk in the eighth, and Hayden Juenger retired Sugar Land in order in the ninth. The three relievers combined for three hitless, scoreless innings to complete the one-hit shutout.
Story’s pregame assessment of his lineup proved just as relevant as his thoughts on pitching.
“When we weren’t executing and pushing runs across and moving runners and doing little things, we could go in a little bit of a rut.”
— Mickey Story, Sugar Land Manager
Sugar Land never escaped that rut. Matthews’ first-inning single stood as its lone hit, and the Space Cowboys finished with two errors while Las Vegas played error-free defense.
The Aviators kept applying pressure after the decisive fifth. Johnathan Rodríguez drove a ball to the base of the wall in left-center for a leadoff double in the sixth but was stranded. He began another rally with a single in the eighth, moved to third when Lavastida dropped a fly ball into center, and scored when Dickey beat the relay on a potential double-play grounder.
Lavastida reached in all four plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run. Rodríguez finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run, while Dickey walked twice, scored in the four-run fifth and drove in the final run.
The Aviators needed only six hits. With Morris controlling the game from the mound, one messy inning by Sugar Land supplied nearly everything else.