Round Rock Express vs Sugar Land

Trenton Brooks opened the scoring in the second inning, launching a solo home run to right field — his fourth of the season — to give Sugar Land a 1-0 lead.

Round Rock tied the game in the sixth when shortstop Keyber Rodriguez led off with a solo homer of his own, his team-leading 11th of the season. The 88.8 mph exit velocity on Rodriguez's drive made it the third-softest home run by an Express hitter this year and the second-softest at Dell Diamond.

The Space Cowboys regained the lead in the seventh. Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases, and Brooks — who had reached third — scored on a wild pitch from Round Rock reliever Michel Otañez.

Sugar Land added an insurance run in the eighth. Third baseman Raynel Delgado drew a walk and came around to score on a double by right fielder C.J. Alexander, extending the lead to 3-1.

Round Rock went down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings, managing nothing against the Space Cowboys bullpen.

The seventh-inning sequence flipped the game. With the score tied 1-1, Sugar Land loaded the bases on consecutive singles and a walk, then Brooks scored on Otañez's wild pitch without a bat making contact. The Express never threatened again, going 1-2-3 in each of their final two frames.

Mike Burrows (Sugar Land) — Making a Major League rehab start for the Astros after more than a month out with right elbow neuritis, Burrows threw 4⅓ scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out three. He threw 43 of 67 pitches for strikes, hit 97.1 mph with his four-seamer (averaging 95.6), and generated 10 swings and misses — five on his changeup. (Source: MLB.com / Brian McTaggart)

Trenton Brooks (Sugar Land) — Opened the scoring with his fourth homer of the season in the second inning and later scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the seventh.

Aidan Curry (Round Rock) — Made his Triple-A debut and was sharp, allowing just two hits and one earned run over 5.0 innings with three strikeouts and one walk. He retired 12 consecutive batters after Brooks's solo homer in the second. (Source: MiLB.com / Round Rock Express)

Keyber Rodriguez (Round Rock) — Tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth, his team-leading 11th of the season. Three of his eight hits in August have been home runs.

Round Rock's offence mustered only one run for the second consecutive night — the first time the Express have been held to one run in back-to-back games since August 12-13, 2025 against Sacramento at Dell Diamond. The Express managed hits in only two innings: the sixth (Rodriguez's homer) and scattered singles. Burrows and the Sugar Land bullpen combined to strand what few baserunners Round Rock produced.

Aidan Curry's outing was the 11th time this season a Round Rock starter has thrown 5.0+ innings while allowing three hits or fewer, though the Express dropped to 4-7 in those contests.

Sugar Land's win gave them the series victory over Round Rock and extended the Space Cowboys' lead atop the PCL East second-half standings to seven games over the fourth-place Express. Round Rock has now lost four straight and cannot win the season series against Sugar Land, falling to 6-8 in the season head-to-head.

The teams meet again on Sunday, 16 August at Dell Diamond for the series finale, with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. CT.

A tidy, professional win for Sugar Land built on Burrows's effective rehab start and timely hitting. Round Rock's Aidan Curry deserved a better fate in his Triple-A debut, but the Express offence has gone cold at the worst time — back-to-back one-run outputs against a division leader.