10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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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.”