10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Nationals explode in 10-1 win over Mariners
By IAN QUILLEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Joe Ross was at
his best on Tuesday night, when even his
worst might have done the job for the
Washington Nationals.
Ross (2-0) allowed one run over a
career high-tying eight innings in his
return from the minors, Anthony Ren-
don homered twice and drove in five
runs, and the Nationals completed a 10-1
rout over the Seattle Mariners.
“There’s really nothing more that
you can ask for as a starter,” said Ross,
who struggled in three April starts before
being optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
on May 2. “It kind of just takes a good
amount of pressure off my shoulders.”
Bryce Harper added his 14th homer
and Jayson Werth hit his seventh off
Chris Bergman (1-2), who allowed all
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Seattle Mariners (20-26)
at Washington Nationals (27-17)
• Today, 4:05 p.m. TV: MASN, RTNW
of the Nationals’ runs and 14 of their 15
hits.
He was chased following an eight-run
fourth, in which Rendon doubled before
hitting his second homer of the game and
seventh of the season.
“I don’t know,” Rendon said, trying
to explain the Nationals’ nine-hit, 11-bat-
ter inning. “I guess we were swinging at
good pitches.”
Ryan Zimmerman also had three hits.
Ross was demoted following his last
two starts in April, in which he allowed
five earned runs in each while failing to
complete five innings.
This time, he looked more of the
2015-16 vintage that had pitched to
sub-4 ERAs in each season. He yielded
five hits and a walk while striking out
six, and retired 12 straight batters after
a leadoff hit.
Ross finished by striking out the side
in the eighth, catching long reliever
Emilio Pagan looking on his 102nd
pitch.
“That’s the guy I’ve been reading
about in Triple-A,” Nationals manager
Dusty Baker said. “His velocity stayed
up most of the game. His arm slot is what
he worked on. He gave us just what we
needed.”
Mike Zunino homered in sixth in his
return from his own minor league stint.
Robinson Cano went 0 for 3 in his
first game back from the disabled list fol-
lowing a thigh injury as Seattle dropped
its fourth straight.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Christian Bergman (56)
throws a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game
against the Washington Nationals in Washington on Tuesday.
Seahawks’
Kennedy
found
dead at 48
NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: GAME 4
TODAY
Baseball — 4A State Playoff: Astoria
at Estacada, 5 p.m.; 2A/1A State Playoff:
Lost River at Knappa, 4 p.m.
NFL cuts
OT to 10
minutes
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
Cortez Kennedy was a hulking
force at defensive tackle, the cor-
nerstone of a franchise that had lit-
tle to cheer about for most of his
playing career.
And yet what Kennedy accom-
plished as a player with the Seat-
tle Seahawks — which was good
enough for induction into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame — was sec-
ondary to the affable personal-
ity that made him a revered figure
long after his career ended.
Police in Orlando, Florida,
said the 48-year-old Kennedy was
found dead Tuesday morning.
Orlando Police Department public
information officer Wanda Miglio
said the circumstances surround-
ing his death are still unknown
but that there is nothing suspicious
about it. An investigation is being
conducted.
“The full story lies in his lov-
ing, fun, positive and giving
heart,” said New Orleans Saints
general manager Mickey Loomis,
who worked for the Seahawks
during Kennedy’s playing career.
“In my many years working in the
NFL, no one better exemplified
what it meant to be a great player
on the field, and yet that paled in
comparison to what Cortez meant
to the people who knew him off the
field.”
League also
opens up flair
in end zones
By JIM LITKE
Associated Press
CHICAGO — NFL owners cut
the overtime period from 15 min-
utes to 10 minutes during the reg-
ular season, but also gave players
plenty of leeway to celebrate after a
touchdown.
The two moves are expected to
result in more tie games and much
more elaborate end zone dance
parties.
“I always planned all my cele-
brations,” said Denver’s Emman-
uel Sanders, already known for
his flamboyant TD celebrations,
including one that drew a fine last
season.
“Now I can go a little overboard
without getting cussed out by the
head coach.”
At their regularly scheduled
spring meeting Tuesday, the owners
also decided to shift the 2021 Super
Bowl to Tampa from Los Ange-
les, where construction delays have
pushed back the expected opening
of the new home for the Rams and
Chargers. Those teams will now
host the league’s showcase event in
2022.
Also approved at the meeting
was the Oakland Raiders lease for
a stadium in Las Vegas, where the
team is expected to play the 2020
season.
In the zone
For all the maneuvering, end
zone celebration talk generated the
most buzz. After years of limiting
how — and how much — players
could celebrate following touch-
downs, the league decided to loosen
up its rules, allowing players to
again use the football as a prop, cel-
ebrate as a group and roll around or
flap their arms like snow angels on
the ground again if they choose.
Even Commissioner Roger
Goodell said he was looking for-
ward to seeing what players would
do with their new-found freedom of
expression.
Asked whether he celebrated the
new guidelines approved at Tues-
day’s spring meetings, Goodell just
laughed.
“I did,” he said. “I can’t tell you
how.”
Shorter OT
The shorter overtime period will
be used in the preseason and regular
season. Playoff games will also use
10-minute time blocks in overtime,
but won’t end in ties.
Coaches’ concerns that too many
players were exhausted and risking
injuries at the end of the extra period
was the key factor in the decision.
Relative obscurity
AP Photo/Tony Dejak
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving (2) goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics’ Al Horford (42),
from Dominican Republic, during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Eastern Con-
ference finals Tuesday in Cleveland.
IRVING’S 42 CARRIES
CAVS PAST CELTICS
By TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving gritted his teeth,
tightened up his left sneaker and hopped to his feet.
The pain couldn’t stop him. The Celtics couldn’t
either.
Irving took over in the second half and finished
with 42 points despite playing on a tender ankle,
LeBron James added 34 and the Cleveland Cavaliers
moved within one win of an almost inevitable third
date in the NBA Finals with Golden State by rallying
to beat Boston 112-99 on Tuesday night in Game 4 of
the Eastern Conference finals.
With James in foul trouble, Irving was forced to
do more than ever and he delivered, scoring 19 in less
than five minutes and 33 in a 19-minute stretch.
“The kid is special,” James said. “I was happy
to sit back and watch him. He was born for these
moments.”
The defending NBA champions, who shot 71 per-
cent in the second half, opened a 3-1 lead in the series
and can wrap up their third straight conference title
— and a “three-match” against the Warriors — with a
win in Game 5 on Thursday night in Boston.
But if Games 3 and 4 are any indication, it won’t
be easy.
Fighting to keep their season alive, the Celtics
aren’t giving an inch despite playing without All-Star
guard Isaiah Thomas, who may need surgery on a
UP NEXT: GAME 5 OF NBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
• Boston Celtics (53-29)
at Cleveland Cavaliers (51-31)
• Thursday, 5:30 p.m. TV: TNT
hip injury.
The Cavs, meanwhile, wouldn’t be on the cusp of
the Finals without Irving.
With Cleveland in jeopardy of dropping its second
game in a row after James followed an 11-point Game
3 debacle by picking up four first-half fouls, Irving put
on a breathtaking one-man show.
Freezing Boston defenders with his dribble and
driving to the basket whenever he wanted, Irving
made six layups, two 3-pointers and a free throw
in a dizzying span of 4:48. He capped his blistering
19-point outburst with a 3 in the final second of the
quarter and celebrated at mid-court by pretending to
put two pistols back in his holster.
“He saw Bron went out and he wanted to put the
team on his shoulders,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.
“He did that.”
Irving said he was driven by the thought of the
Cavs seeing their series lead vanish.
“In the back of my mind, I thought, ‘They can’t tie
up the series,’” he said. “We can’t go back to Boston
tied 2-2. We needed everything tonight.”
A star who spent his entire
11-year NFL career in relative
obscurity playing in Seattle, Ken-
nedy became the second Sea-
hawks player inducted into the
Hall of Fame in 2012. He was an
unmovable wall as a dominant
defensive tackle, and a quiet, gen-
tle soul away from the field never
interested in finding himself in the
spotlight.
“Cortez Kennedy has been a
pillar of the Seahawks franchise
since joining the team as a rookie
in 1990,” the Seahawks said in a
statement. “Tez was the heart and
soul of the Seahawks through the
1990s and endeared himself to
12s all across the Pacific North-
west as a player who played with a
selfless and relentless approach to
the game. ... We are proud to have
been represented by such a special
person.”
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
Former NFL player Cortez Ken-
nedy poses with a bust of him-
self during the induction cere-
mony at the Pro Football Hall of
Fame, in Canton, Ohio, in 2012.