SPORTS
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3B
Bauer stiles Mariner bats as Indians earn win
Associated Press
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Seattle Mariners’ Ketel Marte singles in the third inning of a baseball
game against the Cleveland Indians, Monday, June 6, 2016, in Seattle.
MLB
SEATTLE — Trevor Bauer
pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and
Rajah Davis homered to lead
the Cleveland Indians to their
sixth straight victory with a 3-1
win over the Seattle Mariners on
Monday night.
Bauer (4-2) gave up one run
while scattering ive hits. He
walked one and struck out 10 to
earn his irst victory since May
10. Bryan Shaw got the inal two
outs in the eighth and Cody Allen
worked the ninth to pick up his
12th save in 13 opportunities.
It’s the longest win streak for
the Indians since Aug. 25-31 and
extended their lead over Kansas
City in the AL Central to 2 1/2
games.
James Paxton (0-2) took
the loss for the Mariners, who
Cleveland
Seattle
3
1
have dropped four straight. He
allowed all three runs — just
one earned — on ive hits. He
walked one and struck out 10 in
six innings.
After the Mariners jumped
ahead 1-0 in the third on Nori
Aoki’s two-run, RBI single, the
Indians rallied for two unearned
runs in the fourth. Paxton yielded
a one-hit single to Carlos Santana
followed by a Jose Ramirez
double into the left-ield corner.
Santana, waved home, was
beaten by the relay throw but
catcher Chris Iannetta dropped
it for an error. Ramirez, who
advanced to third on the throw,
scored on Juan Uribe’s sacriice
ly.
Davis hit his sixth home run
in the ifth.
Robinson Cano had his
career-best on-base streak to 34
consecutive games ended with an
0-for-4 evening.
Mariners reliever Edwin Diaz,
called up from Triple-A Tacoma
Saturday, made his major league
debut in the seventh. He retired
the side in order.
UP NEXT
Indians: Anderson (1-3,
6.81) had his best outing — and
only win — of the season in his
previous outing May 23.
Mariners: Despite LHP
Wade Miley (5-2, 5.84) giving up
12 hits and nine runs Thursday to
San Diego he had a no-decision.
Penguins move to brink of title with win versus Sharks
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. —
Bounce-back performances
from two key players moved
the Pittsburgh Penguins to
the brink of winning the
Stanley Cup.
Evgeni Malkin scored his
irst goal of the series and
Matt Murray made 23 saves
after a shaky Game 3 to lead
the Penguins to a 3-1 victory
over the San Jose Sharks on
Monday night for a 3-1 series
lead.
Malkin woke up after
being held pointless in the
irst three games of the series
by setting up Ian Cole’s goal
to open the scoring. He added
one of his own on the power
play to give Murray all the
support needed.
Eric Fehr sealed it with a
late goal after San Jose made
a strong push in the third.
Two nights after allowing
a soft game-tying goal to
Joel Ward, Murray was
steady throughout to put
the Penguins one win from
Stanley Cup Final
Pittsburgh
San Jose
3
1
skating off with their fourth
Stanley Cup in franchise
history. They can do it at
home in Game 5 on Thursday.
“Just keep doing what
we’re doing. Obviously
we know what’s at stake,”
Penguins captain Sidney
Crosby said. “We don’t have
to change a thing, just keep
playing the same way we’re
playing and the results will
take care of themselves.”
The Sharks were unable
to build on their irst win in
the inal, allowing the irst
goal for the fourth straight
game and going more than
nine minutes without a shot
on goal during one stretch of
the second period. San Jose
will need to win in Pittsburgh
to give its loyal fans who
waited 25 years to watch the
Stanley Cup Final in the Bay
AP Photo/Eric Risberg
The Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate at the end of Game
4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the
San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 6,
2016. Pittsburgh won the game 3-1.
Area another home game.
Melker Karlsson scored
the lone goal and Martin
Jones made 17 saves for San
Jose.
The story for the Penguins
after their 3-2 overtime loss
in Game 3 was how to get
Malkin going after a slow
start to the series. And how
would the rookie Murray
respond after giving up the
soft goal to Ward and the
winner to Joonas Donskoi.
Both passed with lying
colors.
Malkin was energized
from the start, helping setting
up the irst goal and then
tapping in the second off a
feed from Phil Kessel for
Pittsburgh’s irst power-play
goal of the series.
“You try to just stay
with it. You just try to make
sure you execute,” Crosby
said. “We had a really good
irst one, generated a lot of
chances. I think that built
some conidence. We got
a great play from Phil and
Geno there to get us a big
goal.”
Murray wasn’t tested
often early and went nearly
the irst half of the second
period without facing a single
shot. But the Sharks made
a strong push after that, and
he robbed Logan Couture,
who was left all alone in the
slot after a turnover by Kris
Letang late in the second.
Murray then stopped
Patrick Marleau on a break-
away and saved a one-timer
by Joe Pavelski early in the
third before allowing his irst
goal. Karlsson beat him on a
rebound of Brenden Dillon’s
point shot with 11:53 to play.
But Murray didn’t linch
and came up big again against
Pavelski to preserve the lead,
keeping the NHL’s leading
goal scorer this postseason
without a point in the inal.
Fehr provided the insur-
ance when he beat Jones on
odd-man rush with 2:02 left.
Murray was helped by
a strong penalty kill that
thwarted two chances from
San Jose’s potent power-play,
and once again never trailed
in the game. The Penguins
have not played from behind
for a span of 435:56 since a
Game 4 loss to Tampa Bay in
the Eastern Conference inal.
Pittsburgh’s only two losses
since came in overtime
games they didn’t trail until
the inal goal.
The Sharks came out
strong to open the game
but still trailed after one.
Murray made good saves on
Pavelski, Joe Thornton and
Brent Burns, and Pittsburgh
capitalized on a poor line
change by San Jose.
Malkin started the play
with a nice feed to Kessel,
whose big shot was turned
aside by Jones. But Cole got
the rebound all alone on the
other side and ired it past
a diving Jones for his irst
career playoff goal.
An extra rest day in NBA Finals schedule seems timely for Cavaliers
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
CLEVELAND — Under
the long-used former NBA
Finals format, Game 3 of
this Golden State-Cleveland
matchup would have been
played Tuesday night.
Not this year, thanks to an
extra rest day.
And the Cavaliers are
probably celebrating that.
The Eastern Conference
champions need as much time
as they can get to try to igure
out a way back into these
inals. They’ve used LeBron
James as a ballhandler and
as a center, they’ve played
at different speeds, they’ve
tried different lineups.
There have been moments
of success — just not enough
to make this a series.
As such, the Warriors are
two wins from back-to-back
championships. Golden State
will try to take a 3-0 lead in
this inals rematch when the
series resumes in Cleveland
on Wednesday night.
“The next couple days, I
won’t be relecting,” James
said. “I’ll igure out ways I
can be better.”
That certainly sounds
good, given that James at his
best is probably still better
than any player in the world.
Problem is, James is already
averaging close to a triple-
double in this series — so he’s
already plenty productive.
And the Cavaliers are down
0-2 despite keeping Warriors’
sharpshooters Stephen Curry
and Klay Thompson in check
so far.
Regardless, Golden State
won Game 1 by 15, then
rolled in Game 2 on Sunday
night by 33. That plus-48
combined margin adds up to
the most one-sided irst two
games of the inals ever.
“They’re just a better team
right now,” acknowledged
Cleveland guard J.R. Smith,
who managed a combined
eight points in Games 1 and
2.
Adding to the tough spot
the Cavaliers are in is the
n a t u r a l
status
of
NBA Finals
when you go
forward
home. Prob-
Kevin Love,
ably
with
who is now
a sense of
in the NBA’s Golden State Cleveland
desperation.
concussion
Warriors
Cavaliers
(2-0)
(0-2)
They might
protocol
go big. You
after taking • Wednesday, 6 p.m.
never know.
himself out • at Cleveland, OH
But we’ll be
of Game 2. • TV: ABC
prepared.”
Love caught
James has faced 0-2
an elbow from Harrison
Barnes in the back of the deicits four times before, all
head during the irst half, and during his irst stint in Cleve-
left in the third quarter when land. He and the Cavs lost in
symptoms of a concussion seven games to Detroit in the
started to present themselves. 2006 second round, rallied
If Love can’t go, the Cava- to beat Detroit in six games
liers might have no choice in the 2007 East inals, got
but to reinvent themselves swept by San Antonio in that
with their realistic title hopes season’s NBA Finals, and
hanging by a thread. Going to lost in seven games to Boston
a bigger lineup — probably in the 2008 second round.
He knows the numbers,
meaning giving all-but-for-
gotten
center
Timofey that 28 of the 31 previous
Mozgov some minutes that teams to lose the irst two
matter — could be the only games of the inals did not
real card Cavs coach Tyronn recover. He didn’t need
anyone to remind him that
Lue has left to play.
“They’ll probably play only one team in the last 39
with a little more energy,” years — the 2006 Miami
Thompson said. “That’s Heat, with his close friend
Kurt Busch wins at
Pocono Raceway
LONG POND, Pa. —
Kurt Busch stretched his
fuel to the checkered lag
and won the Sprint Cup race
Monday at Pocono
Raceway.
Busch was urged
by his team to save
fuel and go hard for
the win on the inal lap. The
2004 champion did all he
could to conserve fuel in the
No. 41 Chevrolet and even
shut off the engine headed
into the turns.
Told he was two laps shy,
Busch not only had enough
fuel left to win his irst race
of the season but enough for
victory burnouts and a cele-
bratory lap around the track.
“The way the fuel mileage
played out, I didn’t know if
we’d have enough,” Busch
said. “This is a wonderful
win for us. We’d been so
close all year.”
to Cleveland.”
That’s almost an obliga-
tory sentiment, though. The
Cavs are supposed to say
that all they need to do is
take care of their home loor
now to get back in this series.
And the Warriors in turn also
said all the things they were
supposed to say as well, like
knowing there’s a long way
to go before they can think
about a second consecutive
title.
Fact is, they’ve won seven
straight over the Cavaliers
now, often in dominant
fashion. And that title is
looming.
“There’s no point in cele-
brating or jumping up and
down and saying ‘Look at
us,”’ Curry said. “We’re two
games away from winning
a championship. We still
have to go out and get the
job done. It’s a trap to think
that we’ve igured things out
and that we have the perfect
formula to beat Cleveland.”
SCOREBOARD
Motorsports
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
Dwyane Wade taking over
— successfully rallied from
an 0-2 hole in the title series.
“What we’ve done these
last two games doesn’t put a
damper or a cloud over how
we got to this point,” James
said. “We’re still here and
we have a chance to turn this
series around if we come in
and do what we need to do
both offensively and defen-
sively.”
This was supposed to
be their chance, after last
season’s matchup with the
Warriors saw Love sidelined
for the entire series with a
shoulder injury and Kyrie
Irving gone after Game 1
with knee issues.
Love might be gone again.
And Irving seems befuddled
by the Warriors’ defense,
shooting 33 percent with a
mere ive assists in the irst
two games.
“They did what they were
supposed to do at home,”
Irving said. “They came out
and took care of home court,
and now they have to come
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was
second, and Brad Kesel-
owski, Chase Elliott, and
Joey Logano rounded out the
top ive in a race postponed
one day because of rain.
Elliott led 51 laps and
seemed poised for
most of the race to
earn his irst career
win. The Hendrick
Motorsports rookie
stumbled off late restarts that
forced him to fall short.
Busch had quietly been
having a solid season for
Stewart-Haas
Racing,
posting four top-ive inishes
and 11 top 10s in 13 starts
entering the race. He had
reeled off seven straight top
10s but didn’t have the win
he needed to earn a sport in
the Chase for the Sprint Cup
title.
Busch led 32 laps in
winning his 28th career Cup
race. He became the ninth
driver to win a race this
season.
Basketball
NBA
Playoff Glance
FINALS
(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)
Golden State 2, Cleveland 0
(all games on ABC)
Thursday, June 2: Golden State 104,
Cleveland 89
Sunday, June 5: Golden State 110,
Cleveland 77
Wednesday, June 8: Golden State at
Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Friday, June 10: Golden State at Cleve-
land, 6 p.m.
x-Monday, June 13: Cleveland at Golden
State, 6 p.m.
x-Thursday, June 16: Golden State at
Cleveland, 6 p.m.
x-Sunday, June 19: Cleveland at Golden
State, 5 p.m.
WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct
Atlanta
6
2 .750
New York
4
3 .571
Chicago
4
4 .500
Indiana
4
4 .500
Washington
3
6 .333
Connecticut
1
7 .125
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct
Los Angeles
7
0 1.000
Minnesota
7
0 1.000
Dallas
3
4 .429
Seattle
3
5 .375
Phoenix
2
5 .286
San Antonio
1
5 .167
———
Sunday’s Games
Indiana 88, Connecticut 77
Washington 86, Atlanta 79
New York 86, Seattle 78
Monday’s Games
No games scheduled
Today’s Games
Phoenix at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
New York at Los Angeles, 7 p.m.
Hockey
NHL
Playoff Glance
STANLEY CUP FINALS
(Best-of-7)
Pittsburgh 3, San Jose 1
GB
—
1½
2
2
3½
5
GB
—
—
4
4½
5
5½
Monday, May 30: Pittsburgh 3, San
Jose 2
Wednesday, June 1: Pittsburgh 2, San
Jose 1
Saturday, June 4: San Jose 3, Pittsburgh
2, OT
Monday, June 6: Pittsburgh 3, San
Jose 1
Thursday, June 9: San Jose at Pitts-
burgh, 5 p.m. (NBC)
Baseball
MLB
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East Division
W
L Pct GB
Baltimore
33 23 .589 —
Boston
33 24 .579 ½
Toronto
31 28 .525 3½
New York
27 30 .474 6½
Tampa Bay
26 30 .464
7
Central Division
W
L Pct GB
Cleveland
32 24 .571 —
Kansas City
30 27 .526 2½
Chicago
29 28 .509 3½
Detroit
29 28 .509 3½
Minnesota
16 40 .286 16
West Division
W
L Pct GB
Texas
35 22 .614 —
Seattle
31 26 .544
4
Houston
28 31 .475
8
Los Angeles
26 31 .456
9
Oakland
25 32 .439 10
———
Monday’s Games
Baltimore 4, Kansas City 1
N.Y. Yankees 5, L.A. Angels 2
Detroit 11, Toronto 0
Texas 6, Houston 5
Tampa Bay 6, Arizona 4
Cleveland 3, Seattle 1
Today’s Games
Kansas City (Ventura 4-3) at Baltimore
(Jimenez 2-6), 4:05 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Huff 0-0) at N.Y. Yankees
(Pineda 2-6), 4:05 p.m.
Toronto (Sanchez 5-1) at Detroit (Boyd
0-1), 4:10 p.m.
Houston (Keuchel 3-7) at Texas (Hamels
5-1), 5:05 p.m.
Miami (Conley 3-3) at Minnesota (Dean
1-2), 5:10 p.m.
Oakland (Manaea 2-3) at Milwaukee
(Davies 3-3), 5:10 p.m.
Washington (Ross 5-4) at Chicago White
Sox (Latos 6-1), 5:10 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Moore 2-3) at Arizona (Grein-
ke 7-3), 6:40 p.m.
Cleveland (Anderson 1-3) at Seattle
(Miley 5-2), 7:10 p.m.
Boston (Porcello 7-2) at San Francisco
(Suarez 1-1), 7:15 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East Division
W
L Pct GB
Washington
34 23 .596 —
New York
31 24 .564
2
Miami
30 27 .526
4
Philadelphia
28 30 .483 6½
Atlanta
16 41 .281 18
Central Division
W
L Pct GB
Chicago
40 16 .714 —
Pittsburgh
30 26 .536 10
St. Louis
30 27 .526 10½
Milwaukee
26 31 .456 14½
Cincinnati
21 36 .368 19½
West Division
W
L Pct GB
San Francisco
35 24 .593 —
Los Angeles
31 28 .525
4
Colorado
26 31 .456
8
Arizona
25 35 .417 10½
San Diego
24 35 .407 11
———
Monday’s Games
Chicago Cubs 6, Philadelphia 4
N.Y. Mets at Pittsburgh, ppd., 2nd game
Colorado 6, L.A. Dodgers 1
San Diego 7, Atlanta 2
Today’s Games
N.Y. Mets (Matz 7-1) at Pittsburgh (Niese
5-2), 1:05 p.m., 1st game
Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 4-4) at Philadel-
phia (Eickhoff 2-8), 4:05 p.m.
St. Louis (Leake 4-4) at Cincinnati (Lamb
1-3), 4:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (deGrom 3-1) at Pittsburgh
(Nicasio 4-4), 4:25 p.m., 2nd game
Miami (Conley 3-3) at Minnesota (Dean
1-2), 5:10 p.m.
Oakland (Manaea 2-3) at Milwaukee
(Davies 3-3), 5:10 p.m.
Washington (Ross 5-4) at Chicago White
Sox (Latos 6-1), 5:10 p.m.
Atlanta (Blair 0-4) at San Diego (Rea 3-2),
7:10 p.m.
Colorado (Butler 2-3) at L.A. Dodgers
(Urias 0-1), 7:10 p.m.
Boston (Porcello 7-2) at San Francisco
(Suarez 1-1), 7:15 p.m.
Motorsports
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400
At Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
Monday’s Results
(Starting position in parentheses)
1. (9) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 160 laps.
2. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 160.
3. (1) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 160.
4. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160.
5. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 160.
6. (11) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 160.
7. (3) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 160.
8. (5) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 160.
9. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 160.
10. (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160.
11. (21) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160.
12. (22) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 160.
13. (24) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 160.
14. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 160.
15. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 160.
16. (32) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 160.
17. (26) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 160.
18. (23) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 160.
19. (17) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 160.
20. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 160.
21. (28) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
22. (35) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 160.
23. (34) David Ragan, Toyota, 160.
24. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 160.
25. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 159.
26. (15) Greg Bifle, Ford, 159.
27. (38) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 159.
28. (40) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 159.
29. (39) Jeb Burton, Ford, 158.
30. (37) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, rear
gear, 155.
31. (12) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150.
32. (33) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 145.
33. (20) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 135.
34. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 131.
35. (7) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet,
accident, 125.
36. (31) Landon Cassill, Ford, 121.
37. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, acci-
dent, 117.
38. (36) Michael Annett, Chevrolet,
accident, 102.
39. (30) Brian Scott, Ford, 81.
40. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota,
accident, 57.
———
Time: 3 hours, 11 minutes, 15 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 1.126 seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 40 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 10 drivers.