9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Snell
shuts
down
M’s
America still in turmoil a year
after Kaepernick’s protest
Rays homer twice
in 3-0 victory
By DICK SCANLON
Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —
There was a long stretch early in
the season when Blake Snell was
the lone pitcher in the Tampa Bay
rotation who couldn’t get a win.
Now he seems to be the only one
who can.
Snell allowed just two hits in
seven innings for his second con-
secutive victory, and the Rays
beat the Seattle Mariners 3-0 on
Sunday.
“I wish I would have come
together a lot sooner, but I feel
really good about where I’m at,”
said Snell, the only starting pitcher
to win for Tampa Bay in its last 17
games.
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Seattle Mariners (63-62)
at Atlanta Braves (55-67)
• Today, 4:35 p.m. TV: RTNW
Kevin Kiermaier and Adeiny
Hechavarria homered for the Rays,
who snapped a four-game skid and
won for the fi rst time in six tries
against Seattle this season.
Snell, who ended a streak of 16
winless starts with a victory Tues-
day at Toronto, gave up a leadoff
single to Nelson Cruz in the second
inning and another single to Rob-
inson Cano in the eighth. The left-
hander retired 12 straight during
one stretch.
His strikeout of Cruz after
Cano’s hit was the key out of the
game to Snell, who led 1-0 at the
time.
“You can’t control what just
happened, you can only control
what’s going to happen,” Snell
reminded himself. “Any at-bat
against a really good hitter is going
to be a big at-bat, especially when
you know with one bad pitch, he
can capitalize.”
Snell (2-6) struck out eight and
walked two, winning consecutive
starts for the fi rst time in his career.
Alex Colome pitched the ninth for
his 36th save.
Cruz’s single extended his hit-
ting streak to 12 games.
Kiermaier led off the bottom of
the fi rst with a home run against
Yovani Gallardo, his eighth of the
season. It was the fi rst home run
since June 2 for Kiermaier, who
missed 61 games with a broken hip.
“It’s been a while,” he said, “but
to get the team going from the fi rst
inning was great. To look back on
it, it was a game-winning hit in the
fi rst inning, but all the credit has to
go to Blake Snell for shutting them
down.”
Hechavarria’s third home run
of the year, second since being
acquired from Miami, came with a
runner on in the seventh.
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
Seattle Mariners starting pitch-
er Yovani Gallardo watches as
Tampa Bay Rays’ Adeiny Hecha-
varria runs around the bases
after Hechavarria hit a two-run
home run during the seventh
inning of a baseball game Sun-
day in St. Petersburg, Fla.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
San Francisco 49ers outside linebacker Eli Harold, left, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, center, and safety Eric Reid kneel during the
national anthem before an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Santa Clara, Calif., in October. What started as a protest
against police brutality has mushroomed a year later into a divisive debate over the future of Kaepernick who refused to stand for
the national anthem and now faces what his fans see as blackballing for speaking out in a country roiled by racial strife.
NFL quarterback
without a team
By JANIE HAR
and JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press
W
hat started as a protest against police
brutality has mushroomed a year
later into a divisive debate over the
future of a football player who refused to stand
for the national anthem and now faces what his
fans see as blackballing for speaking out in a
country roiled by racial strife.
Supporters of former San Francisco 49ers
quarterback Colin Kaepernick demonstrated
outside the Los Angeles Rams’ Aug. 12 pre-
season opener against the Dallas Cowboys,
part of calls for boycotts of the upcoming NFL
season. Film director Spike Lee is promoting a
rally on his behalf.
On the opposing end of a wide range of
opinions, some fans say Kaepernick shouldn’t
have sat or kneeled during the national anthem,
while others argue the quarterback’s lack of a
job is more about his talent.
The once-rising star and Super Bowl quar-
terback has been unemployed since March,
when he opted out of his contract and became
a free agent who could sign with any team.
At least three NFL clubs have openly dis-
cussed the idea of signing him, but the embat-
tled quarterback has yet to sign a contract with
training camps well underway.
Just weeks away from the regular season,
he has become a symbol of the clash of celeb-
rity, sports and social issues as more people
—including players, fans, politicians, team
owners and pundits — invoke his name to
debate thorny issues of patriotism and race.
Other prominent NFL players have sat out
or demonstrated during anthems this presea-
son, one saying his decision was bolstered by
a recent white supremacists’ rally in Virginia
AP Photo/Bob Leverone
A Carolina Panthers fan holds his sign in
protest in September of the San Francis-
co 49ers Colin Kaepernick.
that turned deadly.
“There’s a lot going on inside people’s
hearts right now,” said Dan Rascher, a sports
business professor at the University of San
Francisco. “This may have been a catalyst for
that even though it’s not about Colin Kaeper-
nick, but about our country and who we are.”
Other players who joined Kaepernick in
protest are still employed. Philadelphia Eagles
safety Malcolm Jenkins pledged to continue
his protests this season, tight end Martel-
lus Bennett signed a free agent contract with
the Green Bay Packers and linebacker Bran-
don Marshall stayed with the Denver Broncos
even as he lost two endorsements for kneeling
during the anthem.
Still, some fans say they believe Kaeper-
nick has been passed up as punishment for his
actions, which initially went unnoticed until
the third preseason game last year.
The chorus gets louder every time a quar-
terback vacancy is fi lled on an NFL team, such
as when the Miami Dolphins brought 34-year-
old quarterback Jay Cutler out of a short-lived
retirement to lead its franchise. Cutler was out
of work — like Kaepernick, Robert Griffi n III,
and others — and planned to work as a televi-
sion analyst before the Dolphins reunited him
with coach Adam Gase.
“Either some owners and/or the NFL are
punishing him for speaking out, or they’ve
decided that it’s best for business to sweep
these valid issues under the rug in order not
to upset fans who, in our opinion, don’t have
a valid reason to be upset about Colin Kaeper-
nick being on their team,” said Tim Clark, who
is organizing boycotts of all 32 teams for the
NFL’s regular season opener.
Color of Change, an online civil rights
organization, fl ooded Baltimore Ravens head-
quarters with telephone calls when the team
didn’t quickly sign him as it openly considered
options to react to an injury. The Los Ange-
les chapter of the National Action Network,
which demonstrated over the weekend, says
it will boycott the Rams and Chargers games
at Memorial Coliseum. A change.org petition
calling for a season-long boycott of the NFL
has collected more than 170,000 signatures.
“We understand the NFL is very import-
ant to you. We also understand the purpose
of Colin Kaepernick’s protest is FAR more
important than any games you will ever
watch,” the petition said.
Elie Mystal, an editor at the “Above the
Law” legal commentary website, agreed with
the proposed boycotts.
“Kaepernick doesn’t have a job because he
spoke out about race,” Mystal said. “That’s the
thing you’re not allowed to do in our sporting
culture and most of our popular culture, unless
you’re so over-the-top talented that they need
you for winning.”
Fant’s injury cast shadow over Seahawks’ win over Vikings
Offensive line
in question
NFL PRESEASON
• Kansas City Chiefs
at Seattle Seahawks
• Friday, 5 p.m. TV: CBS
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Just when the Seat-
tle Seahawks were getting settled
on its shaky offensive line, it’s once
again their biggest question with the
regular season approaching.
Russell Wilson looked just fi ne
throwing for 206 yards and two
touchdowns in the fi rst half, and the
Seattle Seahawks suffered a signifi -
cant injury to left tackle George Fant
in their 20-13 victory over the Min-
nesota Vikings on Friday night.
Fant suffered a torn ACL in his
right knee when he was injured mid-
way through the second quarter. Fant
was rolled into by teammate Jus-
tin Britt and immediately fell to the
turf in pain. The team training staff
attended to Fant on the fi eld and
placed an air splint around his lower
right leg before he was taken away.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said
Fant will need surgery and expected
to be done for the season.
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s so unfor-
tunate for George,” Carroll said.
AP Photo/Stephen Brashear
Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle George Fant is helped onto a cart
after he went down on a play against the Minnesota Vikings during the
first half of an NFL football preseason game Friday in Seattle.
“There are other things that follow
that but my fi rst thoughts are for
George.”
Fant’s injury likely means sig-
nifi cant changes for Seattle’s offen-
sive line. Luke Joeckel was set to be
the starting left guard, but may be an
option at left tackle with the entire
right side of the line still unsettled.
Fant took over at left tackle mid-
way through last season and spent
the offseason reshaping his body
to be stronger going into this sea-
son. Earlier this week offensive line
coach Tom Cable said Seattle was set
on the left side of the offensive line.
Fant’s injury overshadowed what
was an otherwise solid performance
by the Seahawks. Wilson picked
apart a Vikings secondary that played
without starting cornerback Trey
Waynes and safety Andrew Sedenjo,
completing 13 of 18 passes. He hit
Kasen Williams on a 1-yard touch-
down pass and found Mike Davis on
a 22-yard catch-and-run TD late in
the fi rst half.
Williams continued to make a
bid for a roster spot with an acro-
batic 27-yard catch, followed by
his 1-yard TD on Seattle’s opening
drive. He nearly had a second TD
but couldn’t haul in a deep pass from
Wilson near the goal line in the sec-
ond quarter.
“I’ve been on practice squad for
two years now and quite honestly
I’m tired of it,” Williams said.
Minnesota’s Sam Bradford was
7 of 11 for 95 yards, leading three
drives for the Vikings before call-
ing it a night. Taylor Heinicke threw
a 21-yard touchdown pass to Bucky
Hodges in the fourth quarter.