Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Mariners drop series to Rangers
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas —
Joey Gallo homered twice
and drove in four runs,
Yovani Gallardo won his
fourth straight start and the
Texas Rang-
MLB
ers held off
the
Seat-
tle
Mari-
ners 11-7 on
Rangers
Wednesday.
Gallardo
(7-1) leads
the majors
with seven
wins since
Mariners
June
23.
He allowed
three hits,
two runs and three walks
while striking out two in six
innings.
Gallo also has been hot,
with 10 of his 31 homers in
his past 19 games. He went 3
for 5 to raise his batting aver-
age above .200 for the first
time since June 16.
Seattle starter Marco
Gonzales (12-7) gave up
career highs of 12 hits and
seven runs in five innings.
Gallo’s homers against
Gonzales gave him 12
11
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP, File
Portland Timbers’ Fanendo Adi, second from right,
celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in
the second half goal of an MLS soccer game against
the Houston Dynamo in Portland, Ore.
Timbers on 15-game
unbeaten streak with
rivalry looming
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
PORTLAND,
Ore.
(AP) — What slow start?
The Portland Timbers have
recovered and then some.
A 15-match unbeaten
streak has moved the Tim-
bers into second place in
the Western Conference
behind FC Dallas. The
streak started with a 3-2
victory at home over Min-
nesota on April 8.
The latest win was a 3-0
victory over the Philadel-
phia Union last weekend
that gave the Timbers their
longest MLS undefeated
streak since they also went
15 games without a loss in
2013. Portland is the only
team with two streaks that
long. The longest unbeaten
streak is 19 games, set in
2010 by Dallas.
Portland’s streak is also
the longest in the league
this season.
“Everyone is buying
into what we’re preach-
ing,” goalkeeper Jeff Atti-
nella said. “Everyone is
fighting each game and
we’re taking each game
just as seriously as the last
one. We’re just going to try
and keep it rolling.”
It has been a dramatic
shift from the start of the
season when the Timbers
started with five games
on the road — because of
construction at Providence
Park — and were unable to
come home with a win.
And home has been key
to Portland’s success. The
Timbers (10-3-7) have yet
to drop a game at home this
season. In fact, the team
has not lost at home in 16
regular-season
matches
dating back to last season.
“We are doing well,”
said Diego Valeri, the
league’s reigning MVP
who leads Portland with
eight goals this season. “I
am very happy about the
run we’re having.”
Portland, which has 14
games left, is heading into
a Cascadia Cup rivalry
match at home this Satur-
day against the Whitecaps,
who sit in seventh place in
the West. But first Vancou-
ver faces Toronto FC in the
first leg of the Canadian
Championship on Wednes-
day night.
The Cascadia Cup is the
three-way rivalry between
the Timbers, Whitecaps
and Seattle Sounders that
was started by rivalry
groups before the teams
joined MLS. Portland and
Seattle sit atop the table
with three points apiece,
while Vancouver has none.
The Whitecaps were
coming off a 2-2 draw
on the road to NYCFC,
stretching their undefeated
streak to three games.
“We have confidence in
the team, so we’ve just got
to keep pushing forward,”
Whitecaps forward Erik
Hurtado said.
MATCH OF THE
WEEK: Sporting Kansas
City (10-6-6) moved into
third place in the West with
a 1-0 victory last weekend
on the road against Hous-
ton. The team is on the
road again this weekend
for its first meeting with
expansion LAFC (10-6-
6), which is in fourth and
jostling with Sporting for
playoff position. LAFC
was coming off a 2-1 loss
on the road to the New
York Red Bulls on Sunday.
PLAYER OF THE
WEEK: San Jose’s Vako
was named the MLS
Player of the Week for
his two goals last Satur-
day against FC Dallas. The
Earthquakes pulled off the
3-1 upset on the road.
Vako scored in the 19th
and 88th minutes for the
Quakes. He has six goals
on the season.
W A T C H I N G
ATLANTA: The Tim-
bers were continuing their
upward swing, but Atlanta
remains the hottest team in
the league.
By far.
The Union, the first
team in MLS to hit the
50-goal mark this season,
sit atop the Eastern Con-
ference at 14-4-6 with 10
games left. They are also
atop the race for the Sup-
porters’ Shield.
Striker Josef Marti-
nez leads the Golden Boot
race with 26 goals in just
24 matches — and he’s 11
goals in front of his clos-
est competitor. He’s just
one goal away from tying
the single-season record
held by three players: Roy
Lassiter of the Tampa Bay
Mutiny in 1996, Chris
Wondolowski with the San
Jose Earthquakes in 2012
and Bradley Wright-Phil-
lips with the New York
Red Bulls in 2014.
Martinez already broke
the league’s career hat-
trick record this season
with his sixth.
Next up for Atlanta is a
match at home against the
Columbus Crew on Aug.
19.
7
AP Photo/Mike Stone
From left, Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister,
Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus congratulate Joey Gal-
lo (13) after his second home run against the Seattle
Mariners.
against left-handers this sea-
son, the most by a Texas left-
handed batter since Rafael
Palmeiro hit 15 in 2003.
Gonzales has lost two
games in a row after a career-
best five-game winning
streak.
Seattle used five singles
to score four runs in the sev-
enth to pull within 7-6, but
the Rangers answered with
four runs to pull away.
Mike Zunino hit two
homers for the Mariners.
Cincinnati released Gal-
lardo in April, and he spent
more than two months in
Triple-A before Texas pur-
chased his contract from
Round Rock.
The Rangers have sup-
ported Gallardo’s starts with
10.48 runs per inning. Their
season-high 19 hits included
11 extra-base hits. Those
were the most Texas extra-
base hits and doubles (eight)
in a game since 2011.
Seattle led only in the first
inning. With one out, Jean
Segura walked, went to second
base on Gallardo’s wild pitch
and scored on Mitch Haniger’s
single to center field.
The Rangers came back
for a 2-1 lead in the bottom
of the first. Rougned Odor
bunted for a single, and Elvis
Andrus doubled to send Odor
to third base. Odor scored
when Mariners third base-
man Kyle Seager couldn’t
backhand a grounder by
Adrian Beltre, and Gallo sin-
gled to score Andrus.
In the third, Gallo hit
a two-run homer into the
right-center field bullpen,
and Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a
double and scored on a sin-
gle by Ronald Guzman.
Zunino hit a solo homer
in the fifth for Seattle, but
Gallo matched it with a
leadoff homer in the bot-
tom of the inning with a fly
ball just inside the right-field
foul pole. Kiner-Falefa again
doubled and scored after
another single by Guzman
and a double-play grounder.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: 1B Ryon
Healy (heat-related ill-
ness) and RHP Sam Tuiv-
ailala (strained right Achil-
les tendon) left the game.
RODEO: Dickens overcomes bad beat to win tie-down
Continued from 1B
the NFR qualifying line and
finally came to Hermiston
in search of some money to
add to his winnings. He’s
not confident that his 74.5
will keep him atop the lea-
derboard with three days left
of competition, but he’s hop-
ing to stay in the money.
“The bulls are good,
some of the best in the world
here,” he said. “They’re
tricky, but you can get a
lot of points on them. But
they’re still a lot of guys that
are really good left to ride,
so we’ll see if it holds.”
Barrel racing
Jessie Telford was the
first racer out of the gates on
Wednesday night, and she
made a statement with her
opening ride.
The Caldwell, Idaho,
cowgirl finished the course
in 16.89 seconds — only
eight one hundreths of a sec-
ond off the arena record of
16.81 seconds — to win the
$100 bonus and help her
case for a spot in the NFR.
“I’m really happy right
now, but I’m right on the
bubble of making the finals,”
said Telford, who is 18th in
the world standings. “It’s
a different feeling than the
first half of the year, where
you were just out there hop-
ing to do well. Now the
competition is there.”
Telford has been involved
in rodeo for most of her life,
but found her passion in bar-
rel racing.
“I love the speed,” she
said. “It’s always exciting.”
Though she spends most
of her time on the road, this
year she brought her two
daughters along for the ride.
“Having your family with
you and watching you race
makes the whole experience
so much better,” she said.
She held off Stevi Hill-
man (Weatherford, Texas)
and her 17.32 seconds and
Kellie Collier (Hereford,
Texas) and her 17.36 sec-
onds to win the night. Echo
cowgirls Amy Coelho and
Bobbie Correa finished in
22.77 seconds and 18.09
seconds, respectively.
Bareback
Clayton Biglow began
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kyle Dickens of Loveland, Colorado, ropes his calf on his way to a 15.1-second time
in tie down roping Wednesday at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Tilden Hooper of Carthage, Texas, rides Yukon Ram-
bler for 81 points in bareback riding Wednesday at the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.
the night with one of the best
performances of the night,
riding Candy Smile for 85
points to set a high bar for
the rest of the week.
“I knew that horse was
pretty good,” Biglow said,
“and I knew if I just did my
job, we’d be sitting pretty
good. I don’t know if this
will win first, but it’ll sure
pull a check.”
Biglow, from Clem-
ents, California, is currently
fourth in the world standings
and held off Jamie Howlett
(Weatherford, Texas) with
82.5 points and Jessy Davis
(Power, Montana) with 81.5
points.
Tie-down roping
For Colorado cowboy
Kyle Dickens, his first full
season at the rodeo has been
a learning experience.
Dickens, 26, finished the
first night of the Farm-City
Pro Rodeo at the top of the
scoreboard, but not without
a few road blocks along the
way. The event was rough
for nearly every competi-
tor out the gate, as several
calves refused to go down,
and other cowboys failed to
catch their calves.
Dickens tied his calf in
15.1 seconds — 5.1 seconds
faster than his runner-up
Kyle Lucas of Carstairs,
Canada. But that didn’t do
much to lift his spirits after
the event.
“I got it tied and finished
the event, and that’s about
the only thing that went
well,” he said.
Dickens completed the
afternoon’s Slack with a
time of 12.9 seconds, bring-
ing his average to 28 sec-
onds. He sees this season as
a trial and error experience.
“It’s been a year of ups
and downs,” he said. “What
I’ve learned most is that you
have to have a competitive
mindset. The guys at the top
are at the top for a reason.
There’s a lot I can take away
from them.”
Team roping
Only one of seven teams
that competed on Wednes-
day night were able to
record a time, as the head-
ers had trouble catching the
steer most of the night.
The only successful team
was Brooks Dahozy (Win-
dow Rock, Arizona) and
Cody Hill (Rexburg, Idaho)
as the pair roped the steer
in 5.2 seconds to win the
nightly bonus. Dahozy and
Hill did not record a time
in afternoon slack, where
the team of Matt Sherwood
(Pima, Arizona) and Buddy
Hawkins II (Columbus,
Kansas) scored 4.4 seconds
for the go.
Action picks back up at the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo arena
on Thursday at 7:45 p.m.
SCOREBOARD
Football
NFL Preseason
Thursday’s Games
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 4 p.m.
New Orleans at Jacksonville, 4 p.m.
Cleveland at N.Y. Giants, 4 p.m.
Chicago at Cincinnati, 4 p.m.
Carolina at Buffalo, 4 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Miami, 4 p.m.
L.A. Rams at Baltimore, 4:30 p.m.
Washington at New England, 4:30 p.m.
Tennessee at Green Bay, 5 p.m.
Houston at Kansas City, 5:30 p.m.
Indianapolis at Seattle, 7 p.m.
Dallas at San Francisco, 7 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Atlanta at N.Y. Jets, 4:30 p.m.
Detroit at Oakland, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
Minnesota at Denver, 6 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Arizona, 7 p.m.
Baseball
MLB
American League
East Division
W
Boston
81
New York
71
Tampa Bay
57
Toronto
51
Baltimore
35
Central Division W
Cleveland
63
L
34
42
57
62
79
L
50
Pct
.704
.628
.500
.451
.307
Pct
.558
GB
—
9
23½
29
45½
GB
—
Minnesota
53 60 .469 10
Detroit
47 68 .409 17
Chicago
41 73 .360 22½
Kansas City
35 79 .307 28½
West Division
W
L Pct GB
Houston
73 42 .635 —
Oakland
68 47 .588
5
Seattle
65 50 .565
8
Los Angeles
58 58 .500 15½
Texas
51 65 .440 22½
———
Wednesday’s Games
Texas 11, Seattle 7
L.A. Angels 6, Detroit 0
Boston 10, Toronto 5
Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 5, Minnesota 2
N.Y. Yankees 7, Chicago White Sox 3
Kansas City 9, Chicago Cubs 0
Oakland 3, L.A. Dodgers 2
Thursday’s Games
Minnesota (Berrios 11-8) at Cleveland
(Kluber 14-6), 10:10 a.m.
Texas (Jurado 2-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Happ
11-6), 4:05 p.m.
Boston (Porcello 14-4) at Toronto (Borucki
1-2), 4:07 p.m.
Baltimore (Hess 2-6) at Tampa Bay (Wood
0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Seattle (Paxton 9-5) at Houston (Verlander
11-6), 5:10 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Boston at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m.
Texas at N.Y. Yankees, 4:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Toronto, 4:07 p.m.
Minnesota at Detroit, 4:10 p.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 5:10
p.m.
Seattle at Houston, 5:10 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City, 5:15 p.m.
Oakland at L.A. Angels, 7:07 p.m.
National League
East Division
W
L Pct
Philadelphia
64 50 .561
Atlanta
62 49 .559
Washington
58 56 .509
New York
47 65 .420
Miami
47 69 .405
Central Division W
L Pct
Chicago
66 48 .579
Milwaukee
66 51 .564
St. Louis
60 55 .522
Pittsburgh
59 56 .513
Cincinnati
50 65 .435
West Division
W
L Pct
Arizona
64 52 .552
Los Angeles
63 52 .548
Colorado
60 54 .526
San Francisco
57 58 .496
San Diego
45 71 .388
———
Wednesday’s Games
N.Y. Mets 8, Cincinnati 0
Pittsburgh 4, Colorado 3
Arizona 6, Philadelphia 0
Atlanta 8, Washington 3
St. Louis 7, Miami 1
Milwaukee 8, San Diego 4
Kansas City 9, Chicago Cubs 0
Oakland 3, L.A. Dodgers 2
Thursday’s Games
GB
—
½
6
16
18
GB
—
1½
6½
7½
16½
GB
—
½
3
6½
19
Atlanta (Sanchez 6-3) at Washington
(Gonzalez 6-8), 10:05 a.m.
San Diego (Erlin 2-3) at Milwaukee (Guer-
ra 6-7), 11:10 a.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Stripling 8-3) at Colorado
(Anderson 6-4), 5:40 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Nova 6-6) at San Francisco
(Suarez 4-7), 7:15 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Washington at Chicago Cubs, 11:20 a.m.
Arizona at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets at Miami, 4:10 p.m.
Milwaukee at Atlanta, 4:35 p.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City, 5:15 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Colorado, 5:40 p.m.
Philadelphia at San Diego, 7:10 p.m.
Pittsburgh at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m.
Basketball
WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct
x-Atlanta
19 10 .655
x-Washington 18 11 .621
Connecticut
17 12 .586
Chicago
10 19 .345
New York
7 22 .241
Indiana
5 24 .172
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct
x-Seattle
23
7 .767
x-Los Angeles 18 11 .621
Minnesota
16 13 .552
Phoenix
16 14 .533
Dallas
14 15 .483 8½
Las Vegas
12 17 .414 10½
x-clinched playoff spot
Tuesday’s Games
Seattle 94, Indiana 79
Atlanta 109, Las Vegas 100
Minnesota 85, Chicago 64
Washington 103, Phoenix 98
Wednesday’s Games
Los Angeles 82, New York 81
Connecticut 101, Dallas 92
Thursday’s Games
Seattle at Washington, 8:30 a.m.
Los Angeles at Atlanta, 4 p.m.
Minnesota at Las Vegas, 7 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Connecticut at Chicago, 6 p.m.
Indiana at Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Soccer
GB
—
1
2
9
12
14
GB
—
4½
6½
7
MLS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
Atlanta United 14
4
New York
14
6
NYC FC
13
5
Columbus
10
7
Montreal
9 13
New England
7
7
Philadelphia
8 11
Orlando City
7 14
Toronto FC
6 11
Chicago
6 13
T
6
2
5
6
2
8
3
2
5
5
Pts
48
44
44
36
29
29
27
23
23
23
GF
50
44
45
30
30
36
29
35
37
35
GA
28
23
29
29
40
35
37
54
41
48
D.C. United
4
9
6 18 30 36
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
T Pts GF GA
FC Dallas
12
4
6 42 36 28
Portland
10
3
7 37 33 25
Sporting KC
10
6
6 36 40 30
Los Angeles FC 10
6
6 36 45 37
LA Galaxy
10
8
5 35 44 38
Real Salt Lake 10
9
4 34 33 40
Vancouver
8
9
6 30 36 46
Seattle
8
9
5 29 24 25
Minnesota
9 13
1 28 36 46
Houston
7
9
6 27 39 33
Colorado
5 12
5 20 27 37
San Jose
3 12
7 16 32 41
NOTE: Three points for victory, one point
for tie.
————
Saturday, August 11
Houston at Columbus, 4:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at New England, 4:30 p.m.
New York at Chicago, 5:30 p.m.
San Jose at Colorado, 6 p.m.
Montreal at Real Salt Lake, 7 p.m.
Minnesota United at LA Galaxy, 7:30 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at Los Angeles FC,
7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Portland, 8 p.m.
Sunday, August 12
New York City FC at Toronto FC, 1 p.m.
Orlando City at D.C. United, 5 p.m.
FC Dallas at Seattle, 7 p.m.