The Sacramento River Cats are defeated 2-3 at Sugar Land in the rain-shortened five-game series, and fall a half-game behind Las Vegas in the PCL standings

The Sacramento River Cats dropped last week’s rain-shortened five-game series to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, 2-3. It marked their second loss in a series this season, the other coming at Tacoma when they dropped the series 2-4 from April 15-19.

On Tuesday, the River Cats won the series opener, 5-4. Newcomer Matt Wilkinson was the starter and earned his first win as a River Cat, allowing one run on two hits, with one walk and a season-high nine strikeouts in five innings. He retired 13-straight batters between the first and fifth innings, before being replaced by Wilkin Ramos. He struck out the side twice, in the second and fourth innings, becoming the first River Cat to strike out the side in three batters twice in a game since Blake Snell did so on July 3, 2024.

Will Brennan singled on a line drive to left fielder Cavan Biggio to score Jared Oliva and Nate Furman in the fourth, before advancing to second on a throwing error. He subsequently scored on a Scott Bandura sacrifice fly to give the River Cats a 3-1 lead. They scored two more runs in the sixth before Sugar Land struck back with two runs on two RBI singles from Pascanel Ferreras and Carlos Pérez.

The Space Cowboys continued to push back when Jack Winkler knocked an RBI double in the ninth, but they would come up just short when César Salazar popped out to Aeverson Arteaga with the tying run on second and the winning run on first.

On Wednesday, John Michael Bertrand earned his fifth win of the season. He threw six scoreless, quality innings, allowing four hits and two walks, and fanning a Triple-A career-high-tying six batters. His other time fanning six batters came May 24, also vs. Sugar Land. Bertrand is T-3rdd in the PCL win wins, and T-1st in win percentage at .714 alongside Oklahoma City’s Christian Romero and teammate Carson Whisenhunt.

Michael Fulmer earned his seventh save of the season, tied with Albuquerque’s TJ Shook for most in the PCL. He pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out three batters.

Nate Furman hit a ground-rule double in the first. He doubled in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He then scored on a Drew Cavanaugh single. They scored again the fourth, putting them up 2-0 before the Space Cowboys managed a single run in eighth.

The Cats won the game 2-1, extending their winning streak to six-straight games, their third time with a six-game winning streak this season. They recorded just four hits, marking the second time this season they have earned a win with just four hits. The other time being April 14 at Tacoma.

They did not knock a home run for the fifth-straight game. It was the first time in franchise history the team has won five consecutive games without knocking a longball.

All good things must come to an end, however. The Kitties lost Thursday’s game, 0-2, snapping their winning streak. It was the third time this season they have been shut out, and first time on the road.

Our second newcomer, Joe Whitmna, was the starter and was dealt his second loss on the season and first with Sacramento. He allowed both of Sugar Land’s run on five hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. Sacramento’s only hit were singles from Furman and Arteaga.

A game time of just two hours and two minutes designated the fifth-shortest game in franchise history. All four shorter games occurred in 2008, with the shortest being one hour and 48 minutes on July 29, 2008 at Round Rock.

Friday, Sacramento lost 3-4, tying up the series 2-2. PCL Pitcher of the Month for May, Carson Whisenhunt, was the starter but did not factor into the decision. He allowed two runs on six hits, with a season-high-tying four walks and five strikeouts. His 77 totals strikeouts lead the PCL and are T-2ndd in all of Triple-A, behind only Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Carlos Lagrange, who has 78.

Wilkin Ramos was dealt his second loss of the season, allowing two runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout in one inning.

Sugar Land scored two runs in the second, including a bases-loaded walk, the first of Whisenhunt’s career.

Sacramento struck back with an RBI double from rehabber Jared Oliva, the only extra-base-hit of the game for the Kitties. Turner Hill also scored on a sacrifice fly from Nate Furman, tying the game 2-2. The space cadets scored two more in the seventh to go up 4-2. Sac attempted a comeback as Hill made it home again on a Jesús Rodríguez single but were unable to score again to re-tie the game. That RBI single also marked Rodríguez’s first time on base in the series, and snapped an 0-for-22 streak that dated back to June 5.

The Cats did not allow an extra-base-hit but were still dealt the loss. Marked the first occurrence of this since September 5, 2025, and the 26th occurrence in franchise history.

Finally, Sac lost Saturday’s game, 1-5, giving them a three-game losing streak for the first time since April 16 (1)-April 18 when they lost four-straight at Tacoma. It was their largest margin of defeat since June 3 when they lost 1-5 vs. Tacoma.

Blade Tidwell was the starter but did not factor into the decision. He allowed one run on four hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts in five innings. He has fanned 39 batters across seven starts since May 9, ranking first in the PCL and T-4th in Triple-A since that date.

The River Cats struck first, with Thomas Gavello scoring on a ground out from Furman. Gavello went 2-for-3 with a double in the fifth, the Cats’ only extra-base-hit of the game. It was his first extra-bagger since his home run on May 31, and first multi-hit game since his three-hit game on May 30.

Furman also had a multi-hit game, his 14th of the season, going 2-for-5. He is batting .326 with nine doubles, one triple, three home runs, 13 RBI, seven walks, five stolen bases, a .537 slugging percentage and an .899 OPS in 23 games since May 17.

Sacramento did not homer for the eighth-straight game, the first time since their 10-game homer-less streak from August 10-29, 2018. Eight games tied their second-longest no-homer streak in franchise history. It was their 31st game without knocking a longball; they are now 11-20 in such games.

Sunday’s originally scheduled 4:35 PT series finale was delayed twice before being ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather and unplayable field conditions. This marked Sacramento’s sixth postponed/cancelled game this year, extending their season high record of postponed/cancelled games. Their last postponement was April 22 which marked the new record, just 19 games into the season. The previous high of postponed/cancelled games in a season was four, done in 2023, 2021, and 2006. The game will not be made up as this was the last time Sacramento faces Sugar Land this season.

Las Vegas won on Sunday at Omaha, scoring five runs in the 11th inning to break the tie and win 12-7. This gives the Aviators a half-game lead over Sacramento in the PCL standings. It marks the first time they have not had the lead or been tied for the lead in the PCL West since May 5.

The team now travels to Oklahoma City to continue their two-week road trip and face the Comets for the first time this season.