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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com SPORTS IN BRIEF Tillamook outlasts Astoria in four games The Daily Astorian TILLAMOOK — Astoria bat- tled and played tough all night against fourth-ranked Tillamook, but the Cheesemakers ultimately won the match Tuesday on their home floor, 26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19. Right from the start, “we fought back in Game 1 and almost won,” said Astoria coach Jessie Todd. “Then we pushed through and took Game 3 to stay alive. Tilla- mook just has some very good hit- ters, especially No. 1 and No. 5 (Makayla Hopkes and Makinley Johnson). They hit the ball very hard.” Still, the Lady Fishermen held their own against yet another top 10-ranked Cowapa League team. Astoria’s Madi Landwehr had 13 kills, followed by Julia Norris with nine and Kes Sandstrom with seven. Chelsea Christensen served up four aces, and defensively Dar- ian Hageman led Astoria with five blocks, while Corrin Howard fin- ished with 30 digs. The Lady Fishermen will host a struggling Banks team Thursday. The Braves are 0-3 in league play, and have lost five straight matches, including a four-game loss at Scap- poose Tuesday. In other Cowapa League action, No. 2-ranked Valley Catholic swept Seaside, 25-21, 25-15, 25-7. Slow start costs Warrenton in loss at Catlin Gabel AP Photo/Charlie Riedel Kansas City’s Alex Gordon hit Major League Baseball’s record 5,694th home run of 2017 on Tuesday night, breaking a season record set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. Gordon hits MLB’s record-setting 5,694th home run of the season The Daily Astorian PORTLAND — The Warren- ton volleyball team returned to Lewis & Clark League play Tues- day at Catlin Gabel, where the Eagles posted a four-game victory over the Warriors, 25-17, 25-14, 12-25, 25-16. “We started off really slow the first two games, giving them a five, six-point lead to start both games,” said Warrenton coach Staci Miethe. “Our serve-receive just wasn’t clicking. “Then in the third game we finally found a rhythm,” she said. “We served well, played fantastic, scrappy defense and kept them out of sync. The final game we still played much better, but again had trouble with one of their servers in a vulnerable rotation.” In Warrenton’s next match (Thursday at Clatskanie), “I may look at adjusting the lineup so that we are a bit stronger when their best servers are behind the line,” Miethe said. Warrenton drops to 2-3 in the Lewis & Clark League. Catlin Gabel improves to 5-1. SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE TODAY Girls Soccer — Valley Catholic at As- toria, 7:15 p.m.; Scappoose at Seaside, 7:15 p.m. Boys Soccer — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 7:15 p.m.; Seaside at Scap- poose, 4:15 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Standings Cowapa League League Overall Tillamook 3-0 7-1 Valley Catholic 3-0 9-1 Scappoose 2-1 5-2 Astoria 1-2 6-5 Banks 0-3 1-7 Seaside 0-3 6-5 Lewis & Clark League Rainier 5-0 8-1 Catlin Gabel 5-1 5-3 Portland Adv 4-1 5-1 Portland Chr 4-1 7-3 Warrenton 2-3 5-7 OR Episcopal 1-3 4-7 Riverdale 0-3 3-7 Clatskanie 0-4 2-7 De La Salle 0-5 0-11 Northwest League Gaston 5-0 8-0 Vernonia 4-0 6-5 Nestucca 3-1 6-3 Delphian 2-1 6-6 Columbia Chr 2-3 3-5 City Christian 1-2 4-4 Faith Bible 0-3 3-7 Knappa 0-3 1-5 Neah-Kah-Nie 0-4 2-7 Broke mark set in 2000 By IAN HARRISON Associated Press T ORONTO — Kansas City’s Alex Gor- don broke Major League Baseball’s sea- son home run record with 12 days to spare, hitting the 5,694th long ball of 2017 on Tuesday night. Gordon’s home run off Toronto reliever Ryan Tepera broke a mark set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The drive, which drove in the last run in the Royals’ 5-2 loss, was his eighth this season and the 159th of his 11-year big league career. “A pretty cool thing to be a part of,” Gor- don said. “I didn’t hit many this year, but I guess I made one count.” It was the 17th home run of the night in the major leagues and came just after Detroit’s Alex Presley tied the record when he con- nected at home against Oakland’s Daniel Gossett. Gordon said he heard talk of the record on a clubhouse television after Toronto’s Darwin Barney homered in the sixth. “I was kind of aware that we were getting close to it,” he said. “After I walked back to the dugout. I kind of forgot about it.” Holding the ball he hit over the right-field wall, Gordon said he didn’t plan to keep the historic memento or anything else from the game. “I’m going to give it to Cooperstown,” Gordon said . “I figured they’d probably have much more reason to have it than I do. I don’t really want to remember too much about this season, so I’ll probably just give it away and let them take care of it.” There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s aver- age of 2.53 entering Tuesday’s action projects to 6,139. That would be up 47 percent from 4,186 in 2014. “I don’t know what to make of it,” Roy- als manager Ned Yost said. “Guys are bigger and guys are stronger. but so are the pitchers. There sure are a lot of home runs being hit.” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has noticed the surge in homers but doesn’t have an explanation. “It really looks like the ball is flying,” he said. Power subsided after the start of drug test- ing with penalties in 2004. The home run average dropped in 2014 to its lowest level since 1992, then started rising during the sec- ond half of the 2015 season. “My biggest take on it is that players are trying to hit more home runs,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “Their philos- ophy overall, a lot of these position players, is to get the ball in the air and also pull the ball and get the ball in the air and hit it as far as you can. So you’re increasing the launch angle, whatever you want to call this, stay away from the groundballs. And so they’re sacrificing a little bit more contact to do a lit- tle bit more damage.” When the previous record of 5,693 was set in 2000, Sammy Sosa led the major leagues with 50 home runs and Barry Bonds hit 49. Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton leads the major leagues with 55 home runs this year, followed by New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge with 44. Yost said he doesn’t believe more players are swinging for the fences than in years past. “You’re always looking to elevate,” Yost said. “You’re not going to make a whole lot of money hitting the ball on the ground in this league because the defenders are so quick and athletic. You’ve got to get the ball in the air, I think, if you’re going to be successful.” AP Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report. Rangers score twice in 8th inning for win over Mariners Seattle loses 3-1 By TIM BOOTH Associated Press SEATTLE — Carlos Gomez had not seen live pitching in more than a week due to a sprained ankle, but he kept asking Texas manager Jeff Banister for an opportunity as a pinch-hitter. Banister gave Gomez his chance, and the decision helped boost the Rangers’ slim playoff chances. Gomez’s leadoff double in the eighth inning started a two-run rally that lifted Texas to a 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Shin-Soo Choo’s sacrifice fly broke a 1-all tie, and Elvis Andrus followed with an RBI single as the Rangers won their second straight after a five- game losing streak. More importantly, Texas pulled within 3½ games of Minnesota for the second American League wild card. “He’s been by my side and in my ear the last few days telling me he’s ready to hit for us and do things like that,” Banister said about Gomez. “It was a situation we felt like it was a good time for him.” AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Seager reacts after striking out in the ninth in- ning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday in Seattle. It was actually the combination of Gomez and Delino DeShields that manufactured the two runs in the eighth. Gomez doubled off Nick Vincent (3-3), and DeShields fol- lowed with a perfect bunt single to put runners at the corners with no outs. Choo hit a fly ball deep enough that pinch-runner Will Middlebrooks scored easily to give Texas the lead, and Andrus’ broken-bat single scored DeShields. “It was a good bunt. It’s something I’ve really taken pride in,” DeShields said. “After my first year playing pro- fessional ball I got convinced it could be used as a weapon, especially with my speed. It’s something I work on every single day.” Seattle lost its fourth straight and squandered an opportunity to move within three games of Minnesota. And it was a major baserunning mistake that came back to bite the Mariners. “Disappointing night, obviously. A chance to gain ground in this race and you lose another day,” manager Scott Servais said. With one out and runners at the corners in the seventh inning, Yonder Alonso was caught too far off third base as Guillermo Heredia pulled back on a bunt attempt. Alonso was easily thrown out by catcher Robin- son Chirinos. Heredia eventually sin- gled against Tony Barnette (2-1), but Ben Gamel popped out to end the threat. “If it’s a strike, I’m sure (Heredia) puts it down and then Yonder scores easy. It wasn’t a strike. He did the right thing, backing off it,” Servais said. “But again, Yonder got a little bit too aggressive down the line and they made a play on him. It’s a point in the game and where we were at, I thought it was worth a gamble.”
