Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Friday, August 25, 2017
MLB
Basebrawl! Tempers flare between Tigers, Yankees
Eight total ejections
between three scuffles
By NOAH TRISTER
Associated Press
DETROIT — Once slugger
Miguel Cabrera wrestled Yankees
catcher Austin Romine to the
ground at home plate, an afternoon
game at Comerica Park collapsed
into total chaos.
All the testiness that had been
building between the Detroit Tigers
and New York finally boiled over.
The toll of Thursday’s fury — three
bench-clearing altercations, eight
ejections, one beaning and a lot of
angry words.
“I’m sure there are going to
be suspensions on both sides,”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said
after a 10-6 loss.
The winning and losing pitchers
— Detroit’s Alex Wilson (2-4) and
New York’s Dellin Betances (3-5)
— were among those tossed. So
were Girardi and Tigers manager
Brad Ausmus.
Perhaps the only positive thing:
This was the final time the Yankees
and Tigers were scheduled to play
this season.
Girardi contended an early
warning would’ve cut off the
BRIEFLY
BMCC baseball player
signs to play at four-
year college
PENDLETON — Blue
Mountain Community College
pitcher Briant Howell recently
signed a National Letter of Intent
to continue his
baseball career
at Morningside
College, a
NAIA school
in Sioux City,
Iowa.
A native
of Rathdrum,
Idaho, Howell
Howell
pitched in each
of the past two
seasons for the Timberwolves. He
compiled a 2-7 record with a 6.70
ERA in 23 games including 16
starts, striking out 49 batters in 86
innings.
He becomes the ninth
Timberwolf from the 2017
team to sign with a four-year
program, joining Austin Florez
(Oregon Tech), Tanner Heiman
(Grand View University), Gunnar
Johnson (Dakota Wesleyan),
Chase Labbe (College of Idaho),
Matt Palmer (Waldorf University),
Nathan Pena (College of Idaho),
Rodney Scarver (Briar Cliff
University), Tate Spivey (College
of Idaho).
“Brian was a hard worker for
the ‘Wolves the last two seasons,
and improved his velocity 11
miles-per-hour while at BMCC,”
BMCC head coach Brad Baker
said in a press release. “I
wish Briant the best of luck at
Morningside.”
Buckaroos holding fall
preview and athletic
field ribbon cutting
PENDLETON — Pendleton
High School is holding a fall
preview event to showcase all five
fall sports teams to the community
next week.
Things will get started on
Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at the PHS
Athletic Field. Each team will be
introduced to the public and then
will get approximately 10 minutes
to give a taste of what to expect
from each in 2017.
Then at 7 p.m. the school will
hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to
celebrate the upgrades to the field,
including the new scoreboard,
new track surface and permanent
lighting. Drinks and cookies will
be included, and the event is open
to all Pendleton students, parents
and the rest of the community.
Tri-tip dinner at
Pendleton football
season opener
PENDLETON — Pendleton
football fans that attend the
Buckaroos season opener against
La Grande on Sept. 1 can also
treat themselves to a yummy
tri-tip dinner.
Prior to the start from 5:30-6:30
p.m., $10 will get people a plate of
tri-tip, potato salad, baked beans,
a roll and a beverage. The meal
will be served at the Pendleton
Technology & Trades Center
(formerly West Hills Elementary)
north of the athletic field.
Anyone not attending the
dinner but still going to the game,
admission will be $6 for adults
and $4 for students grades 1-8,
while PHS students are free.
AP Photo/Duane Burleson
Members of the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankee entagle in a
bench-clearing scuffle during the sixth inning of Thursday’s game
in Detroit. The Tigers defeated the Yankees 10-6.
trouble before it escalated. He
blamed the umps for letting things
go wild, saying, “Just a very poor
job on their part.”
Much later, Betances was ejected
after he hit McCann in the helmet.
Betances seemed to be indicating
he had thrown a breaking ball
instead of a fastball, and wound up
shouting at the Tigers and the umps.
“I threw him out and that was to
keep control of the game,” umpire
crew chief Dana DeMuth said.
“And the reason why it took a
minute or so, was because I wanted
to get the players apart. Once I got
Detroit going to their dugout and
New York going to their dugout,
then I informed him that he was
ran.”
“It wasn’t necessarily of him
intentionally beaning the batter, but
to keep control of the situation, I
deemed it necessary that he went,”
he said.
The problems between these
teams began well before Tommy
Kahnle threw behind Cabrera in the
sixth inning. Last month, they had a
game at Yankee Stadium in which
four batters were hit.
This time, Michael Fulmer hit
Sanchez with a pitch in the fifth, an
inning after Sanchez had homered
for the fourth time in this three-
game series.
“If you can’t see that Fulmer
clearly hit Sanchez on purpose,
there’s something wrong,” Girardi
said.
Kahnle was ejected after his
pitch behind Cabrera, and Girardi
was tossed after he came out to
argue.
“When they throw at me, it
was OK. ... I was cool with that,”
Cabrera said. “When they started
arguing with the umpire, I said to
Romine, ‘Calm down.’”
The game was finally about
to resume when Cabrera stepped
toward Romine, and the New York
catcher took off his mask. Cabrera
gave him a two-handed push to the
chest.
“He said, ‘You have a problem
with me?’ And I said, ‘This isn’t
about you,’” said Romine, whose
brother Andrew plays for the Tigers.
“And then he pushed me. It felt like
he wanted a confrontation there and
I just tried to defend myself the best
I could.”
Cabrera appeared to take a
couple of swings at Romine, and
the two ended up on the ground as
players from both teams spilled onto
the field. Sanchez later appeared
to take a swing at someone at the
bottom of the pile.
Cabrera and Romine were
ejected, and Romine was so
incensed by his dismissal that he
threw his mask when he entered the
dugout.
An inning later, Betances hit
McCann in the helmet with a pitch,
causing benches to empty again,
and Betances and bench coach Rob
Thompson were tossed. Betances
said he didn’t hit McCann on
purpose, and McCann seemed to
agree afterward.
“I don’t think it was intentional,”
McCann said. “At that point in
the game, Miggy was thrown at,
Sanchez had been hit, and at least in
my mind, the retaliation was over. I
don’t think that he was trying to hit
me on purpose.”
Wilson and Ausmus were
ejected in the eighth after Wilson hit
Todd Frazier around the thigh with
a pitch. The benches cleared for a
third time.
“With me hitting a guy in the leg,
it’s what I have to do and that’s what
I did,” Wilson said. “Fortunately
for me I know where my pitches
are going, and I hit a guy in the leg
today to take care of my teammates
and protect them.”
Rangers beat Angels to inch closer in Wild Card
Texas just one game out
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Martin
Perez dodged a couple early jams
en route to seven strong innings,
Drew Robinson and Mike Napoli
homered and the surging Texas
Rangers beat the Los Angeles
Angels 3-0 on Thursday night.
Texas has won eight of 11
games,
pulling
situations and cruised
within a game of the
from there. He
final AL wild card
allowed seven hits,
despite trading away
Texas
Los Angeles struck out three and
ace Yu Darvish to
didn’t walk a batter.
the Dodgers at the
Jason
Grilli
July 31 non-waiver
pitched the eighth
trading deadline.
and rookie Ricardo
Perez (9-10) won his fourth Rodriguez the ninth, earning his
consecutive start. He had two first career save to complete the
runners aboard in each of the second Rangers’ sixth shutout.
Troy Scribner (2-1) gave up
and third innings, but escaped both
3
0
three runs on three hits and two
walks, striking out six.
Robinson’s two-run homer
came in the third. It was his fourth
home run of the year. Napoli added
his 26th shot in the fourth.
The Rangers took three of the
four games in the series.
Despite the loss, the Angels
remained a half-game behind
Minnesota and Kansas City for that
last wild card.
BOYS SOCCER: Hermiston plays at Mac-Hi on Monday
Continued from 1B
credits that to the program he has
been dedicated to building over the
years.
“We’re building a program
here now so we can reload,” he
said. “We’re not building singular
teams so that when we have that
team graduate we’re kind of stuck.
We’re able to bring in guys that are
ready to go at the varsity level and
we don’t need a to take another
year or two to get them ready.”
While all cylinders were
rolling for Hermiston, nothing
went Umatilla’s way. The ball was
kept in their third the entire night,
and the few chances the Vikings
(0-1) did have ended in shots wide
of the goal and turnovers that gave
the momentum back to Hermiston.
Despite the impressive shutout
performance, the Bulldogs’ cannot
get comfortable now. It was a
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Rene Alarcon drives on the goal guarded by Umatil-
la’s Christian Alaniz in the Bulldogs’ 8-0 win against the Vikings
on Thursday in Hermiston.
sentiment Harshberger expressed
at the half, and the coaches reiter-
ated at the end of the game.
“This was an opportunity for us
to get some practice at a competi-
tive level, especially in the second
half,” Harshberger said. “They’ve
got to come out and they have got
to push it because there are going
to be teams that we are going to
need to go a full 80 against.”
With a focus on communica-
tion, keeping up pace, and owning
their own style of play, Hermiston
will take to the road and will face
the Mac-Hi Pioneers on Monday
at 5 p.m. Umatilla will continue
its road slate to begin the season
next week when they, too, travel
to Milton-Freewater to take on
the Pioneers. The Vikings and
Pioneers face off on Tuesday at
4:30 p.m.
————
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.com or
541-564-4542. Follow her on
Twitter @almansanarez.
GIRLS SOCCER: Umatilla goalkeeper kept Vikings in game
Continued from 1B
maintained control of the ball for
nearly the entire game. This kept
Umatilla’s senior goalkeeper and
captain Maria Moreno busy. The
Vikings (0-1) would have been
in more trouble if it weren’t for
Moreno’s performance, and they
knew it.
“It should have been a lot
worse,” Vikings’ head coach Tim
Lee admits. “But our girls did a
great job keeping it in front of
them.”
There was no doubt that
Moreno did that best of all.
“I love having Maria back
there,” Lee said. “For four years
she has been a starter and her
confidence level has increased
over time. It’s always one of the
biggest worries a coach could
possibly have: being unsure of
the keeper. But really there is no
doubt when it comes to Maria. I
know what’s going to happen.”
Even impressing MacBride
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Hannah Thompson drives past Umatilla’s Julisa Bernal
in the Bulldogs’ 1-0 win against the Vikings Thursday in Hermiston.
with her performance, Moreno
fended off six straight shots on
goal within 10 minutes.
At no point in the night did
the Bulldogs stop their attack, but
the young team still has plenty of
room to grow.
“You can’t really complain
too much with a win but there
are things here and there that we
definitely need have to work on,
but it’s just a matter of getting
comfortable with each other,”
MacBride said. “There’s a lot
of new faces and a lot of our
freshman are stepping up big for
us. We had eight starters graduate
last year, and we are young. We
are starting three freshman so it’s
just a matter of getting comfort-
able with each other and learning
the style of play. I think once that
happens, we’ll be alright — good
things will happen with this
group.”
Hermiston will continue its
season at Kennison Field next
week facing the Mac-Hi Pioneers
on Monday at 3 p.m., and stay
home two days later to host La
Grande Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Lee and the Vikings will return
home to host the Pioneers on
Tuesday at 6 p.m. for Umatilla’s
home opener.
————
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.com or
541-564-4542. Follow her on
Twitter at @almansanarez.
PREPS: Helix volleyball team wins big against Ione, Umatilla
Continued from 1B
set tonight, I think, and they did a
good job playing through.”
The TigerScots were very
balanced in the stat book Thursday,
with all 11 players contributing in
some fashion. In the kill category,
Hailey Weaver led the team with
20 total, while Alyssa Finifrock
had 16 and Maddi Muilenburg
had 14. Chelsea Quaempts led the
team with 35 digs and Muilenburg
followed with nine, and Bryce Thul
had a team-high 45 assists and Ellie
Scheibner had 15.
Finifrock also dazzled on the
serving line with 11 aces and both
Thul and Quaempts had eight.
“That’s going to be what you
see out of this team every night,”
White said of the balanced stat
sheet.
Weston-McEwen will next head
to Grant Union to play in a tourna-
ment on Saturday.
GRIZZLIES WIN TWICE
HELIX — The Helix Grizzlies
got off to a great start in the 2017
season, as they hosted a dual with
Ione and Umatilla on Thursday
afternoon and earned two three-set
victories.
First up against Ione, Helix
(2-0) started slower in the first set
to win it 25-19 but then finished
strong winning 25-15 and 25-12 to
finish off the win. Kailey Mize led
Helix with eight kills in the match
and Sadie Wilson had seven, while
Ari Krol was a perfect 12-12 on
serves and Lynne Roberts also had
a strong game.
Then against Umatilla, Helix
again began the match a little slug-
gish with a 25-19 win in the first
set before finishing off the Vikings
25-10 and 25-7 for the victory.
Mize again led the team in kills,
this time with 10, and Krol had
eight while Charmayne Bennett
and Roberts carried the team in
serving.
“It’s great to get that first win
right away,” Helix coach Dianna
Melton said.
Helix will host Weston-
McEwen and Enterprise on
Tuesday for a dual match. Ione will
head to Country Christian today
to play in the 1A Season Preview,
and Umatilla will play Irrigon and
Condon/Wheeler today in Irrigon.