SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017
1B
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OUR VIEW
MLB
Mariners snap out of losing skid Ready
or not,
fall
sports
season
is here
T
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Seattle Mariners’ Jean Segura (2) singles in a run as Baltimore Orioles catcher Welington Castillo looks on in the fi fth inning of a base-
ball game Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, in Seattle.
Albers pitches five solid innings for first MLB win in four years
By JIM HOEHN
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Andrew Albers
earned his fi rst major league win in
four years, pitching fi ve effective
innings as the Seattle Mariners
beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 on
Tuesday night to snap a fi ve-game
losing streak.
Called up from the minors
earlier in the day, Albers (1-0)
settled down after giving up Jona-
than Schoop’s 26th home run in
the fi rst inning. He allowed six hits
for his fi rst victory since Aug. 12,
2013, when he went 2-5 in 10 starts
with Minnesota.
The 31-year-old lefty, acquired
in a trade with Atlanta last Friday
after going 12-3 at Triple-A Gwin-
nett, made one relief appearance
for Toronto in 2015 and did not get
a decision in six appearances last
season with the Twins.
The Mariners’ bullpen fi nished
Baltimore
Seattle
1
3
with four scoreless innings. Edwin
Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his
26th save in 30 opportunities.
Seattle erased a 1-0 defi cit with
a run in the fourth and two in the
fi fth off Wade Miley (6-10), who
yielded fi ve hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Mariners tied it in the fourth
after Guillermo Heredia doubled
and advanced on Robinson Cano’s
groundout. Nelson Cruz followed
with a single to right fi eld for his
AL-leading 96th RBI.
Seattle made it 3-1 in the fi fth.
Danny Espinosa doubled and went
to third when Miley mishandled
Jarrod Dyson’s sacrifi ce bunt. Jean
Segura followed with an RBI single
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Andrew Albers throws against
the Baltimore Orioles in the fi rst inning of a baseball game Tues-
day, Aug. 15, 2017, in Seattle.
to left, sending Dyson to second.
Dyson advanced on Heredia’s
fi elder’s choice grounder and
scored on Cano’s bouncer to fi rst
when Heredia’s hard slide into
second upended shortstop Tim
Beckham and prevented a possible
double play.
Dyson prevented a run in
the third, grabbing Adam Jones’
sinking liner to center and throwing
out Manny Machado, who was
See MARINERS/3B
Oregon State Football
Luton takes long road to become OSU QB
Oregon State
QB Jake
Luton speaks
to reporters
at Reser
Stadium in
Corvallis
on July 18,
2017, before
the start of
fall camp.
Luton has
been named
the Beavers’
starter for
2017.
Transfer emerges from
spring mystery illness
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Quarterback
Jake Luton’s debut with Oregon
State saw him lead a couple of
touchdown drives in the spring
game but it wasn’t readily apparent
what he was going through health-
wise.
Luton had what he thought was
just a stomach bug that struck a few
weeks before practices began.
“Then maybe fi ve days before
spring ball it got way worse, ten-fold
worse,” he said. “It stuck around
for a while. We tried to do different
things to treat it and couldn’t really
AP Photo/Anne M.
Peterson
pinpoint what it was.”
Meanwhile, Luton dropped
some 25 pounds from his lanky
6-foot-6 frame. Doctors ran a series
of tests, looking at possibilities like
food allergies. They found nothing
conclusive, he said.
“They ran all the tests. I ended
up having a scope, a bunch of
different things trying to fi gure out
what was wrong with me,” Luton
said when fall camp opened. “I
guess just giving it time, and the
trainers trying to help me out and
get through it, the past few months
I’ve felt 100 percent. I never had
anything like that before in my life.
It was pretty strange.”
Luton went 13-for-21 for 118
yards in the Beavers’ spring game,
giving fans a fi rst look at both his
considerable height and strong arm.
He threw a couple of interceptions,
but had a nice 38-yard bullet to
Isaiah Hodgins in the fi rst quarter
that set up a 6-yard touchdown pass
to Jordan Villamin.
He got healthy over the summer,
hit the playbook and readied
himself for life in the Pac-12. His
work was rewarded during fall
See LUTON/3B
he summer break for
prep sports in Eastern
Oregon and across the
state offi cially came to a close
this week.
Monday marked the fi rst day
that teams were allowed to hit
the practice fi elds and gyms for
the 2017 season, and the fi rst
contests are
not far behind.
The fi rst day
allowed for
volleyball
games, soccer
matches, and
cross country
meets is Aug.
24, while
Eric
football games
Singer
get started on
Comment
Aug. 31 and
Sept. 1.
So as teams get ramped up
for the upcoming season, here
are a few of my top storylines
and teams to keep an eye on in
the region this fall.
HERMISTON BEGINS
OSAA FAREWELL: The
story of Hermiston High
athletics departing the OSAA
for the WIAA starting in the
2018-19 school year has been
well-documented at this point.
But that doesn’t make this
season any less interesting.
For starters, this will
be the last season of boys
soccer being played in the
fall season at Hermiston as
it will move to the spring
season in Washington, while
the girls soccer team will
remain playing in the fall.
Both teams will try to get over
the postseason hump, which
has seen the Bulldog boys
get bounced from the state
tournament in the quarterfi nal
round against Woodburn each
of the last two seasons, and the
girls team will reload and try to
escape the fi rst round.
The Bulldog football team
is set up to compete well
in a wide-open 5A Special
District 1, led by senior
athlete Dayshawn Neal, senior
defensive back Joe Gutierrez,
and junior quarterback
Andrew James. Elsewhere, the
Bulldogs volleyball team is on
its third coach in three seasons
and face a tough Columbia
River Conference slate against
Pendleton and Hood River,
while the cross country team
returns some high-quality
talent such as Isaac Sanchez
on the boys side and Melany
Solorio for the girls team that
should both be strong in the
district.
HEPPNER FOOTBALL:
Can the Heppner football
train keep on rolling? After
last season’s 8-3 mark and yet
See FALL SPORTS/3B
Sports shorts
Elliott, NFLPA appeal suspension
NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL Players Asso-
ciation has appealed Dallas Cowboys running
back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension over
the league’s conclusion that its 2016 rushing
leader injured his former girlfriend in three
separate incidents last summer.
The union said Tuesday it will
represent Elliott “to ensure that
the NFL is held to its obligation of
adhering to principles of industrial
due process under the collective
bargaining agreement.”
The NFL suspended Elliott last
Elliott
week after a yearlong investigation
into an Ohio domestic violence
case that prosecutors declined to pursue. Elliott’s
attorneys blasted Commission Roger Goodell’s
ruling, saying the league “cherry-picked”
evidence to reach its conclusion.
A hearing with Goodell or an arbitrator will
be scheduled within 10 days with a decision “as
soon as practicable” after the appeal is heard.
“I’m surprised at how bad
an umpire he is. I don’t
know how, for as many
years he’s been in the
league, that he can be
that bad. He needs to re-
evaluate his career choice,
he really does. If I get fi ned
for saying the truth, then
so be it. He’s messing with
baseball games, blatantly.”
— Ian Kinsler
Detroit Tigers infi elder ripped um-
pire Angel Hernandez on Tues-
day, one day after Hernandez
ejected Kinsler for arguing balls
and strikes. Hernandez is in his
24th year as an MLB umpire.
Miami’s Stanton homers in 6th
straight game, now has 44 total
MIAMI (AP) — Miami Marlins All-Star
slugger Giancarlo Stanton homered in his sixth
consecutive game when he hit his 44th home run
off San Francisco Giants’ left-hander Madison
Bumgarner on Tuesday night.
Stanton has hit 10 home runs
in his last 11 games, and 23 in the
last 35.
Coming into the game, his 22
homers in 34 games has only been
exceeded twice in Major League
history with Sammy Sosa hitting
Stanton
25 in 1998 and Barry Bonds
hitting 24 in 2001 according to Elias.
Stanton set the Marlins’ season club record
surpassing Gary Sheffi eld, who hit 42 in 1996.
The record is homering in eight consecutive
games by Ken Griffey Jr. for Seattle in 1993,
Don Mattingly of the Yankees in 1987 and Dale
Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1954 — Sports Illustrated
makes its debut, selling for
25 cents. The cover features a
game at Milwaukee’s County
Stadium. Eddie Mathews of
Braves is swinging, with Wes
Westrum catching and Augie
Donatelli umpiring.
2008 — In Beijing, Michael
Phelps touches the wall a
hundredth of a second ahead of
Serbia’s Milorad Cavic to win
the 100-meter butterfl y. The
win gives Phelps his seventh
gold medal of the Beijing
Games, tying Mark Spitz’s
performance in the 1972
Munich Games. Usain Bolt of
Jamaica runs the 100-meter
dash in a stunning world-re-
cord time of 9.69 seconds.
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