10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Timbers extend
unbeaten streak
with 3-0 win
PORTLAND — Diego Valeri
and Dairon Asprilla each scored
on a penalty kick, and the Portland
Timbers extended their unbeaten
streak to 15 games with a 3-0 vic-
tory over the Philadelphia Union
on Saturday night.
Portland improved to 10-0-5
since its last loss on April 8 at
Orlando. The undefeated run
matches the club’s MLS record of
15 games set in 2013.
“We are doing well,” said
Valeri, the league’s reigning MVP
who leads Portland with eight
goals this season. “I am very happy
about the run we’re having.”
Stewart scores
20, Storm clinch
playoff spot
SEATTLE — Breanna Stewart
scored 20 points, Sue Bird had 14
points and 11 assists and the Seat-
tle Storm clinched the first WNBA
playoff berth this season with an
85-75 victory over the defending
champion Minnesota Lynx on Fri-
day night.
Stewart drove the lane and
finished in traffic to give Seattle
a 79-69 lead and she had a left-
handed layup on the next posses-
sion for a 12-point advantage.
Natasha Howard had 15 points,
six rebounds and five steals for
Seattle (21-7), which recorded its
first 20-win season since 2011. The
Storm were 7 of 14 from 3-point
range in the first half and finished
12 of 24 from behind the arc.
Sylvia Fowles led Minne-
sota (15-12) with 20 points and
16 rebounds. Maya Moore was
limited to seven points on 2-of-9
shooting.
US teacher rows
solo across Atlantic
in record time
LONDON — A high school
science teacher from Cincinnati,
Ohio, has rowed solo across the
Atlantic Ocean, setting a record
for a west-to-east crossing.
Bryce Carlson arrived at St.
Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly, off
England’s southwestern tip, late
Saturday — 38 days, six hours
and 49 minutes after setting out
from St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The 37-year-old athlete was
applauded by relatives and
well-wishers as he stepped onto
the quay at St. Mary’s Harbour
after rowing more than 2,000
miles in his 20-foot boat, Lucille.
Carlson capsized several times
and endured high waves and the
remnants of a hurricane during his
journey.
“I feel like I had a lot of luck
along the way, and a lot of help,”
Carlson said. “Help from my
friends, my family, the commu-
nity — from some higher power,
I don’t know.”
US beats Taiwan
7-0 at women’s
softball worlds
ICHIHARA, Japan — Ali-
son Aguilar and Delaney Spauld-
ing drove in three runs each as the
United States beat Taiwan 7-0 Sat-
urday to improve to 2-0 in Group
A at the women’s softball world
championship, a qualifier for the
2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Aguilar hit a bases-loaded dou-
ble in a five-run second inning
when Spaulding doubled in a sin-
gle run. Spaulding completed the
scoring with a two-run homer in
the fourth and the game was called
after five innings on the tourna-
ment’s mercy rule.
Keilani Ricketts picked up the
win after striking out four and giv-
ing up only three hits over five
innings.
The winner of the tournament
will be awarded an Olympic berth.
If Japan wins, the second-place
finisher will be granted the Olym-
pic spot as Japan has an automatic
berth as host.
Also in Group A, Puerto Rico
beat South Africa 9-0.
Astoria’s Trey Hageman (5) tries to take down Keegan Holly of Sweet Home during a play in Saturday’s annual Shrine all-star football game.
East rallies for win over
West in Shrine game
The Daily Astorian
B
AKER CITY — The East defeated the
West 20-8 in the Shrine all-star football
game Saturday in Baker City.
In the 66th annual contest that
showcases the top seniors from the Class
1A to 4A levels from the previous sea-
son, the East held a narrow 6-0 lead after a
defensive first half.
Behind a touchdown from Brandon Peite
of Regis, the West grabbed an 8-6 lead early
in the second half. The East responded with
two touchdowns to win. A thunder and light-
ning storm delayed part of the second half.
Three players from Clatsop County took
part in the game — Michael Bailey and
Skyler Yoshino from Seaside, and Astoria’s
Trey Hageman.
The game will be televised by Root
Sports Network at 1:30 p.m. today.
Seager and Cruz power Mariners
to 6-3 win over Blue Jays
By ERIK ERICKSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mar-
iners had been waiting for a big day
from Kyle Seager to spark their strug-
gling offense, and they finally got it
Sunday.
Seager hit two home runs and Nel-
son Cruz added another as the Mari-
ners powered their way to a 6-3 win
over the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We had the Seager game today,”
Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
“We’ve been waiting for that one and
Kyle was huge there.”
The Mariners had been held to
three or fewer runs in 18 of their last
23 games, including three straight
losses to the Blue Jays to begin the
series, but got 10 hits Sunday as they
snapped a five game losing streak.
“The at-bats were better. We made
better contact,” Servais said. “We
need it to continue. It’s been a rough
stretch here offensively but hopefully
today is a bright spot and we turn the
corner here going forward.”
Toronto tied the game at 3-3 in the
seventh after shortstop Aledmys Diaz
hit his 14th home run of the season
against Seattle starter Mike Leake, but
the Mariners responded in the bottom
of the inning. Cruz and Seager hom-
ered back-to-back against reliever Joe
Biagini (1-6) with one out after Jean
Segura led off the inning with a single.
“Today felt good and hopefully we
continue to put up some good at-bats
and score some runs,” Seager said.
Seahawks
safety plan
focuses on
Thompson
and Hill
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Seager, right, runs into the arms of Nelson Cruz
after Seager’s home run against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Seager had gone 21 games with-
out a home run before hitting his 17th
and 18th of the season Sunday. He
recorded his eighth career multi-ho-
mer game and his 31st multi-hit game
of the season.
“He was due, there’s no doubt
about that,” Servais said.
Zach Duke (4-4) picked up his
first win as a Mainer when he got one
out in the seventh for the win. Alex
Colome pitched a scoreless eighth and
Edwin Diaz locked down his major
league-leading 41st save of the sea-
son as the Mariners avoided the series
sweep.
Cruz finished with four RBI, driv-
ing in the game’s first two runs with
an RBI single off the glove of Diaz in
the third to go along with his broken
bat home run that put Seattle ahead
5-3 in the eighth.
Seager hit his first solo homer of
the game when he took Toronto starter
Sam Gaviglio deep on the first pitch
of the fifth inning, giving Seattle a 3-1
lead.
“You know where he’s always at in
the middle of that lineup, and he can
burn you, no doubt about that,” Blue
Jays manager John Gibbons said.
“He’s dangerous.”
RENTON, Wash. — Through-
out its offseason team activities, the
Seattle Seahawks appeared to be
settled at safety. Bradley McDou-
gald would just continue his role
from a year ago stepping in as a full-
time starter alongside Earl Thomas.
That was before Thomas
decided to take his demands for
a new contract to the extreme by
holding out, creating an unexpected
competition and a bit of chaos in
Seattle’s defensive backfield.
With Thomas missing, Seat-
tle’s safeties are a revolving door
of combinations trying to find the
pairing that makes the most sense
ahead of the Sept. 9 opener at Den-
ver. The process of seeing how all
those combinations look gets its
first true examination next Thurs-
day when the Seahawks open the
preseason against Indianapolis.
“These guys, they kind of
joined forces in the offseason and
kind of as a group, they knew they
were up against it and wanted to
make sure that they were going to
give everything they had and put it
all on the line,” Seattle coach Pete
Carroll said.
Elliott wins at Watkins Glen, his first Cup victory
Chase
Elliott
celebrates
after
winning
Sunday in
Watkins
Glen, N.Y.
AP Photo/Ju-
lie Jacobson
By JOHN KEKIS
Associated Press
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. —
Like father, like son.
Mired in a confounding los-
ing streak since the start of his
NASCAR Cup career in 2016,
Chase Elliott finally broke into
the win column Sunday, hold-
ing off road course ace Martin
Truex Jr. at Watkins Glen.
The son of Hall of Famer
Bill Elliott, who also won his
first Cup race on a road course
(Riverside in 1983 in his 124th
start), Chase celebrated a tri-
umph he will cherish forever.
Out of fuel after the finish, he
was pushed to victory lane by
the banged-up No. 48 Chevy
of seven-time Cup champion
Jimmie Johnson, a teammate
and one of his staunchest sup-
porters, as his father raced
to join the celebration after
spotting.
Toss in the raucous cheers
of the sellout crowd and it
doesn’t get much better than
that.
“It’s something I’ll never
forget,” said Elliott, who has
finished second eight times
in Cup. “I was going to do a
burnout, but I ran out of gas.
Certainly glad that we were on
the front end today.”
Elliott’s victory came
in his 99th Cup start and
was the 250th win for Hen-
drick Motorsports, breaking a
37-race losing streak for one of
NASCAR’s signature teams. It
also assured Elliott a spot in
the playoffs as he became only
the fifth driver to win a race
outside of the “Big 3” of Kyle
Busch, Kevin Harvick and
Truex, who have combined to
win 16 of 22 races.