SPORTS WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Tour de France Matthews wins Stage 16, Froome keeps yellow jersey Team Sky plays games with pack By SAMUEL PETREQUIN & JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press AP Photo/Peter Dejong Australia’s Michael Matthews, left, crosses the fi nish line to win the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 165 kilometers (102.5 miles) with start in Le Puy-en-Velay and fi nish in Romans-sur-Isere, France,, Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Norway’s Edvald Boas- son Hagen, right, fi nished second. ROMANS-SUR-ISERE, France — Ahead of two grueling Alpine stages likely to decide the outcome of the 104th Tour de France, Chris Froome and his teammates have sent a clear message to their rivals with another impressive display of collec- tive strength. Amid heavy crosswinds that played havoc in the fi nale of Tuesday’s 165-kilo- meter (102.5-mile) Stage 16 between Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans-en-Isere, Team Sky riders tried to unsettle their opponents by setting a frenetic tempo that split the pack like a jigsaw puzzle. After relentless work from Vasil Kiryienka and Michal Kwiatkowski, only 22 riders including Froome and team- mate Mikel Landa managed to stay in the reduced bunch at the front. Also among them were Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran, who avoided the trap. But Dan Martin lost 51 seconds after getting caught in a split in the fi nale. He dropped to seventh place overall, 2:03 off the pace. At some point, it looked like Bardet was going to be left behind but he was helped back in the leading group by Oliver Naesen. Australian Michael Matthews won the stage in a sprint to the line. With the race now in money time, with stages set to decide the fi nal podium, Froome went straight to the point with his aggressive racing. He appears in great shape and has the best team surrounding him in his bid to win a fourth Tour title. “Everyone knew it was going to split at some point,” said Froome. “For us it was more about just being on the right side of it. Knowing it was going to kick off on that open section in the last 20 kilometers to go, the guys committed to that and we saw the gaps opening out straight away.” Froome, the defending champion, has an 18-second overall lead over Aru, with Romain Bardet 23 seconds back in third place. Colombian Rigoberto Uran completes the leading quartet, 29 seconds off the pace. Landa, who has been impressive since the start of the Tour despite dedicating himself to Froome, moved back to fi fth overall, 1 minute, 17 seconds back. See TOUR/2B Golf MLB Beef, brains on menu at British Open Peacock puzzles Mariners Last 7 major titles won by first-timers By TIM DAHLBERG Associated Press SOUTHPORT, England — Beef is back on the menu at the British Open, and Andrew Johnston can only hope there’s as much sizzle to be found at Royal Birkdale as there was last year when he made an entertaining run on the weekend at Royal Troon. There are brains here, too, thanks to a last minute win Sunday by Bryson DeChambeau, who defi es golf convention with his swing thoughts and has physics formulas stamped on the back of his wedges. Golf in what seems now to be a permanent post-Tiger era remains alive and somewhat well. That’s espe- cially true on this side of the pond, where huge crowds will turn out this week for the 146th version of what they prefer here to call simply The Open. The winner on Sunday will be crowned championship golfer of the year. Based on the small sample size of recent major championships, it is likely to be someone you know little about. The last seven major championships have been won by players who had never won a major in their lives. That could go to eight this week if an up and coming player the likes of John Rahm — who dominated the Irish Open in his last outing — can win this Open. Or maybe local resident Tommy Fleetwood, who didn’t exactly come in through the front door of the pro shop when he played a few holes here and there growing up. “It was a course I would have crept on now and again,” Fleetwood said. The revolving cast of new winners is part of the reason this Open — and golf itself — seems to be struggling for a story line. The course may be the best in England and the fi eld full of great talent, but even the bookies here can’t fi gure out who should be favored. Gone forever are the days when Woods dominated and every conver- sation in the sport revolved around what he was doing. “It shows the quality of golf that everybody plays at right now,” said See BRITISH/2B AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith Seattle Mariners’ Guillermo Heredia, right, reacts to a called strike by home plate umpire Dan Bellino during the fi fth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Tuesday, July 18, 2017, in Houston. Houston pitcher starts off strong, Gattis homers twice for Astros By KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press HOUSTON — Evan Gattis homered twice to back up a solid start by Brad Peacock and help the Houston Astros to a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Gattis hit solo shots in the second and sixth innings off Sam Gaviglio (3-5) for the eighth multihomer game of his career. Peacock (8-1) allowed three hits and one run while fanning nine in seven innings to tie the longest start of his career and earn his fi fth straight win. Luke Gregerson got the last four outs for his fi rst save. Jose Altuve had three hits and drove in a run for the AL West-leading Astros, and Marwin Gonzalez added a hit in his fi rst game at shortstop since All-Star Carlos Correa was placed on the disabled list with Seattle a torn thumb liga- ment on Tuesday. Gaviglio allowed eight hits and fi ve runs in six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday. Houston took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifi ce fl y by Yuli Gurriel in the fi rst inning. Leading by two after Gattis’ fi rst homer, Gonzalez singled to start Houston’s fourth and advanced to second on an error by Gaviglio with one out. A double by Nori Aoki came next to score Gonzalez, and a two-out RBI double by George Springer extended the lead to 4-0. Peacock retired 12 of the fi rst 13 batters he faced before Kyle Seager led off the fi fth 2 with his 200th career double. He advanced to third Houston on a groundout by Danny Valencia and the Mariners cut the lead to 4-1 on an RBI single by Jarrod Dyson. Gattis extended Houston’s advantage to 5-1 with his full- count shot to left fi eld with two outs in the sixth inning. Houston added a run on an RBI single by Altuve with one out in the seventh. The Mariners got within 6-2 on an RBI single by Ben Gamel with two outs in the eighth. TRAINER’S ROOM Mariners: OF Mitch Haniger was out for the third straight game after injuring his right index fi nger on Saturday night. But manager Scott Servais said he was feeling 6 better Tuesday and would likely play on Wednesday. Astros: Correa is expected to miss six to eight weeks because of his thumb injury that will require surgery. The Astros put Correa on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday, a day after he hurt himself taking a swing against Seattle. They expect to have him back in the lineup for the stretch run in September. UP NEXT Mariners: James Paxton (8-3, 3.19 ERA) will start the series fi nale for Seattle on Wednesday. Paxton allowed fi ve hits and two runs in six innings of a win over the Chicago White Sox in his last start. Astros: Charlie Morton (7-3, 4.06) is scheduled to start on Wednesday for Houston. Morton got the win in his last start by yielding three hits and fi ve runs in fi ve innings of a victory over Minnesota. Sports shorts Valeri added to MLS All-Stars Thirteen players including Portland’s Diego Valeri and Toronto’s Jozy Altidore have been added to Major League Soccer’s All-Star team for the Aug. 2 game against Real Madrid in Chicago. Two commissioner’s picks and 11 players named by All-Star coach Veljko Paunovic were added Tuesday to the fan selections to represent the league at the game at Soldier Field. MLS Commissioner Don Garber selected Kellyn Acosta of FC Dallas and Dom Dwyer of Valeri Sporting Kansas City. Among the other players selected by Paunovic were Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei, Fire midfi elder Dax McCarty and Galaxy defender Jelle Van Damme. The overall roster includes 16 repeat All-Stars and eight newcomers. Thirteen teams are represented. “We won’t be playing in this wind. And when we get the normal wind, there really isn’t a driver for me until we get to 15. And then that brings the bunkers into play.” — Phil Mickelson Professional golfer after Tuesday’s practice round at the British Open explaining why he won’t be carrying a driver in his bag. Mickelson will use a 3-wood off the tee, which he did the last time he won the British Open in 2013 at Muirfi eld. CCC to add men’s wrestling LA GRANDE — Beginning with the 2017-18 season, men’s wrestling will be a Cascade Collegiate Conference recognized sport, it was announced by the conference offi ce. With the announcement, the Eastern Oregon men’s wrestling team will join the conference along with seven other schools including fellow full-time members Southern Oregon, Providence and Warner Pacifi c. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, Menlo College, Montana State Northern and Simpson will also join the CCC as associate members to round out the eight-team conference. The NAIA created a new model for men’s wrestling in effect for this season that places an emphasis on conference direct wrestling, and will guarantee the conference champion from each weight class automatically advances to the NAIA Championships. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1990 — Pete Rose, base- ball’s all-time hits leader, is sentenced to fi ve months in prison and an additional three months in a halfway house for cheating on his taxes. 2014 — Shoni Schimmel, a rookie who doesn’t start for her own team, puts on a record-breaking performance scoring 29 points to help the East beat the West 125-124 in the fi rst WNBA All-Star game to go to overtime. Tamika Catchings makes a layup with 6.9 seconds to go to give the East the lead and then knocks the ball away from Skylar Diggins on the defensive end to seal the victory. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com