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