Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2016)
SPORTS WEEKEND, JUNE 18-19, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Sports shorts Olympics Pride Night draws season high for Rays IAAF to Russia: NYET! ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jeff Samardzija threw a four-hitter and the San Francisco Giants won their sixth consecutive game Friday by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 on Pride Night, before the biggest regular-season crowd at Tropicana Field in a decade. The announced atten- dance of 40,135 was the fi rst regular-season turnout over 40,000 at the Rays’ ballpark since opening day in 2006 against Baltimore (40,199). Tampa Bay entered averaging 16,037 in home attendance this season, second-lowest in the majors. The Rays dedicated this year’s event to the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando. The team on Tuesday made all available tickets $5, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefi ting the Pulse Victims Fund. Brandon Crawford and Gregor Blanco had two RBIs apiece and Brandon Belt homered for the NL West- leading Giants, a season-high 16 games over .500. Calabro new Blazers play-by-play man PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers have hired veteran television broadcaster Kevin Calabro as their new play-by-play FACES announcer. The announcement Friday comes two days after the team said on-air personalities Calabro Mike Barrett and Mike Rice wouldn’t return next season. Calabro was the TV and radio announcer for the Seattle SuperSonics for 21 years but didn’t join the team when it moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. He has since worked for various national media outlets, including ESPN Radio and Turner Broadcasting, while based in the Pacifi c Northwest. Blazers President and CEO Chris McGowan says the team is conducting a nationwide search for a color commentator to join Calabro. “‘I love my Teammates, Coaches, and My Fans’ but there is ‘No Chance’ I play the 2016 season under the Franchise tag.“ — Von Miller Denver Broncos OLB and Super Bowl 50 MVP on Instagram just one day after saying there was no way he would consider skipping this season. Miller would be owed $14.129 million under the one-year franchise tag, but is holding out in hopes of a longterm contract. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1936 — German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling knocks out previ- ously unbeaten Joe Louis in the 12th round. Schmeling’s victory sets off a propaganda war between the Nazi regime and the United States on the eve of World War II. 1986 — Len Bias, the second pick in the NBA draft made by the Boston Celtics two days before, dies of a heart attack induced by cocaine use. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com Track & fi eld banned from Rio Games By NESHA STARCEVIC & STEPHEN WILSON Associated Press VIENNA — Russia’s track and fi eld athletes will be banned from competing for their country at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a landmark decision Friday that punished the sports power- house for a systematic doping system that operated “from the top down” and tainted the entire team. In an unprecedented ruling loaded with geopolitical ramifi cations, the IAAF upheld its ban on Russia’s track and fi eld federation, saying the country had made some progress in cleaning up but failed to meet the requirements for reinstatement and would be barred from sending its athletes to the Rio Games that begin in 50 days. See RUSSIA/3B AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File In this Feb. 18, 2014, fi le photo, a Russian skating fan holds the country’s national fl ag over the Olympic rings before the start of the men’s 10,000-meter speedskat- ing during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. MLB Gutierrez leads M’s over Red Sox Mariner homers twice, drives in 6 By DOUG ALDEN Associated Press BOSTON — Franklin Gutierrez is developing an affi nity for Fenway Park. Gutierrez homered in his fi rst two at-bats and drove in a career- high six runs as the Seattle Mariners outslugged the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Friday night. It was the third multi-homer game in Gutierrez’s Seattle career and fi rst since he hit a pair in Boston last August. “So I guess I see the ball Boston pretty good here at Fenway Park,” said Gutierrez, who also doubled with the bases loaded as the Mari- ners scored the fi rst seven runs of the game. “It’s a good day today. What can I say?” Robinson Cano drove in Seat- tle’s other two runs, including his 19th homer with a leadoff shot in the seventh, as Seattle won its second straight since a four-game losing streak. David Ortiz hit a two-run homer for Boston in the fourth. It was the 521st homer for Ortiz, tying him with Red Sox great Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas 8 4 AP Photo/Elise Amendola Seattle Mariners’ Franklin Gutierrez watches his three-run double during the fourth inning of a base- ball game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Friday, June 17, 2016, in Boston. for 19th on the career list. Not easily humbled, Ortiz spoke reverently about the company he joined Friday night. “It means a lot. Historically, you guys know how great Mr. Ted Williams was,” Ortiz said. “It’s wonderful, man. We’re talking about some of the greatest hitters in the game.” Ortiz’s shot to center off Hisashi Iwakuma cut Seattle’s lead to 7-2 in the fourth. After Cano’s homer in the seventh, the Red Sox added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning but couldn’t overcome their early defi cit. Iwakuma (6-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. Iwakuma pitched deep enough to keep Seattle from stressing its bullpen too much on the day the Mariners lost another starter to the disabled list. Wade Miley, scheduled to start Saturday, joined Felix Hernandez on the DL earlier Friday. “It’s one of the better hitting teams in the league, so I tip my hat to Kuma,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “It was huge, especially with the spot starter coming tomorrow. We really needed that to kind of calm things down here a bit.” See MARINERS/2B College National Finals Rodeo Williams poised to claim all-around title Blue Mountain cowgirl vaults into fi rst with strong ride East Oregonian PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College’s Danyelle Williams went into the last leg of the long-go at the College National Finals Rodeo at Casper (Wyo.) Events Center on Friday night in need of some points. Williams sat in second place in the women’s all-around standings with a 20-point defi cit and had two chances to make up that gap in break- away roping and barrel racing. Her night started slow with a 9.3-second time in breakaway — a full seven seconds slower than her Round 2 time Williams Lewis Leyva — which dropped her to a 34th place fi nish in the aggregate standings. But in barrel racing, the event which has been her strongest so far, Williams dashed to a 14.07- second fi nish which was good enough for the fi fth-best of the long-go. Her time helped her to a second place fi nish in the aggregate and advanced her onto the championship round. The points earned in barrel racing also boosted Williams into fi rst place in the all-around Garland standings, which all-but clinched her the title as second place Taylor Engesser of Gillette did not advance in either of her two events. Jessica Lewis and Emily Sorey also competed in barrel racing on Friday, with Lewis turning in See CNFR/2B NBA Finals Warriors limping to fi nish, hope home-court helps Game 7 is Sunday Kerr, Curry each fi ned $25,000 for Game 6 incidents By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press CLEVELAND — The level of tension is growing rapidly for the Golden State Warriors. Someone gets suspended, someone gets hurt, someone gets ejected, and lots of someones make no effort to hide their frustration. A comfortable two-game lead in the NBA Finals becomes a dicey one-game lead, then no lead at all. The biggest moment awaits. The biggest challenge does, too. Shots aren’t falling for the Warriors at the same rate they were in the regular season, stops aren’t coming like they were a couple months ago either, the aches and pains are piling up and what looked like a sure-fi re title not long ago See FINALS/3B By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press AP Photo/Tony Dejak Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson reacts on the bench against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second half of Game 6 of basketball’s NBA Finals in Cleveland, Thursday, June 16, 2016. Cleveland won 115-101. CLEVELAND — Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry let their frus- trations with Game 6 of the NBA Finals be known, and it came at a price. Each was fi ned $25,000 by the NBA on Friday for separate incidents. Kerr, the league’s coach of the year, was fi ned for publicly criticizing offi ciating after the game, which Cleveland won 115-101 to force a deciding Game 7 in the title series. See FINES/3B