East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, August 11, 2018, WEEKEND EDITION, Page Page 2B, Image 14

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Cruz’s double in 8th lifts Mariners over Houston
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON — The
Seattle Mariners are feel-
ing pretty good after beat-
ing Houston All-Stars Justin
Verlander and Gerrit Cole on
consecutive nights.
Still, they know they have
a lot more work to do as they
chase their first playoff berth
since 2001.
“We came here and
wanted to start playing some
better games and that’s what
we’ve done,” manager Scott
Servais said. “We’re just
playing better baseball right
now and the top of the lineup
has been really swinging the
bat well.”
Nelson Cruz hit a tie-
breaking two-run double in
a three-run eighth inning to
lift the Mariners a 5-2 vic-
tory over the Astros on Fri-
day night.
Houston leads the AL
West and Seattle is 2 1/2
games behind Oakland for
the second wild-card spot.
Mitch Haniger doubled
with one out in the eighth,
and Denard Span singled to
chase Cole (10-5). The dou-
ble by Haniger was his fifth
extra-base hit in the last
two games after he doubled
in the sixth Friday and had
two doubles and a homer
Thursday.
Cole was replaced by
Ryan Pressly, whose first
pitch plunked Jean Segura
on the top of his left hand.
Cruz then smashed a ball
off the wall in left-center to
MLB
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Seattle Mariners’ Nelson Cruz watches a two-run dou-
ble against the Houston Astros during the eighth in-
ning of a baseball game Friday in Houston.
score Haniger and Span and
make it 4-2. The Mariners
tacked on a run when Segura
scored on a groundout by
Kyle Seager.
“They’ve got a really
good club,” Servais said.
“You’ve got to pitch them
really well, you’ve got to
keep them down because
you know it’s going to be
tight ball games here and we
got some big hits late.”
Seattle starter Mike Leake
Mariners
Astros
5
2
allowed eight hits and two
runs in six innings. Adam
Warren (1-1) allowed one hit
in a scoreless seventh for the
win and Edwin Diaz struck
out two in a perfect ninth for
his 44th save.
Cole yielded six hits and
four runs in 7 1/3 innings for
his season-high third straight
loss.
The Astros had trouble
stringing hits together until
Marwin Gonzalez and Tyler
White hit consecutive sin-
gles with no outs in the fifth
inning. Martin Maldonado
then reached on a fielder’s
choice that left Gonzalez out
at home.
Tony Kemp’s single to
center field with two outs
scored White to make it 1-0.
Alex Bregman followed
with an RBI double to push
the lead to 2-0 before Carlos
Correa grounded out to end
the inning and leave Kemp
stranded at third. Correa was
0 for 3 in his return after
missing more than a month
with a sore lower back.
Cole sailed through the
first five innings, retiring 15
of the first 16 batters he faced
with the only baserunner
coming on a double by Cruz
to start the second inning.
He’d sat down 12 straight
when Cameron Maybin sin-
gled to start the sixth inning.
RODEO: Hermiston’s Mary Shae Hayes runs top time in barrel racing
Continued from 1B
fastest time of the night with
3.7 seconds, while Bothum
scored 5.0 seconds.
Barrel racing
The barrel racing lineup
saw a lot of Eastern Oregon
and Columbia River Circuit
riders running Farm-City’s
course on Friday.
Eight of the 12 riders call
Oregon home, and at the end
of the night it was Herm-
iston’s Mary Shae Hayes
that scored the best run and
earned the $100 bonus and
coveted bottle of Chute 8
whiskey. Hayes completed
the course in 17.39 seconds
on her eight-year-old horse
Ace, holding off Pueblo,
Colorado’s Christine Lough-
lin’s time of 17.40 seconds.
“I feel like I got a little
more nervous than usual,”
Hayes said. “My horse, he’s
consistent but we still have
our moments. That’s not
one of my best runs, but it
worked, and you just never
really know with barrel
racing. Even with the best
horse, something can always
go wrong.”
Hayes also took home
an extra $500 bonus for the
Darrell Sallee gray ribbon
challenge on Friday, which
was extra special for her.
“Darrell was really spe-
cial and we were good fam-
ily friends with him,” she
said. “So it just means a lot
when you can win some-
thing like that.”
Bull riding
It was a quiet night in bull
riding on Friday as only two
of the 11 riders were able to
stay on for eight seconds for
a qualified ride.
But the event saved the
best for last.
Omak,
Washington’s
Wyatt Covington hopped on
Corey and Lange’s Hunky
Dorie for the last ride of the
night, and rode through all
the twists and turns for 86.5
points. The ride gave Cov-
ington the top score of the
night and pushed him to No.
1 on the overall leaderboard.
“That ride was a great
feeling,” said Covington,
who gave a big fist pump
to the crowd and tossed his
helmet in celebration after
the ride. “I’ve been on that
bull before and I was really
excited to get back on him
again. It bucked me off the
first time, so I wanted a lit-
tle redemption and it worked
out perfectly in my favor.”
Honeyville, Utah’s Tim
Bingham was the only other
rider to get a score Friday,
riding Korkow Rodeo’s
Double Action for 81 points,
putting him in sixth place for
the round.
Saddle bronc
Canadian cowboy Kolby
Wanchuk’s first trip to the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo was a
memorable one.
The rookie bronc rider
hopped on Corey and
Lange’s Duck Butter on Fri-
day night and rode the horse
to an 85.5-point score, giv-
ing him the top ride of the
night and moving him to first
on the overall leaderboard.
“It was a fun horse and
everything went well,” Wan-
chuk said. “There’s not
much more you can ask for.”
Tygh Valley’s Johnny
drew a really good steer.”
Tomorrow, the team will
compete in Bozeman, Mon-
tana in the hopes of keeping
their streak going.
“I really needed tonight’s
win,” Masters said. “I’ve
been struggling, but Joseph’s
been having a great season.
I’m just trying to keep it
positive.”
Tie-down roping
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Orin Larsen of Inglis, Manitoba, Canada, rides Special Delivery for 88.5 points in
bareback riding Friday at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.
Espeland was close behind
Wanchuk with 83.5 points
on Calgary Stampede’s
Zealous Departure, while
Cort Scheer of Elsemere,
Nebraska, rode Calgary’s
Urgent Delivery for 80
points.
Bareback
The bareback riding por-
tion of Friday’s performance
was a short one.
With five riders with-
drawing from the competi-
tion, it left only Orin Larsen
and Kaycee Feild to make
rides to start of the eve-
ning. And though the field
was small, the cowboys
did not disappoint. Feild
started things off with an
83-point ride on Korkow
Rodeo’s Broken Angel, but
Larsen followed with a mas-
sive 88.5 points on Calgary
Stampede’s Special Deliv-
ery — a horse that Larsen
was very familiar with.
“I’ve been on that horse
three or four years previ-
ous and it kind of made me
look silly,” Larsen said with
a smile, “so I was happy
to have it and get some
redemption.”
Larsen’s score moved
him to the top of the overall
standings, while Feild slides
into sixth place.
Team roping
Friday’s team roping
competition may have ended
in a tie, but it was Chad
Masters of Cedar Hill, Ten-
nessee, and Joseph Harrison
of Overbrook, Oklahoma,
who ultimately took home
the prize money and bottles
of Chute 8 whiskey.
The duo tied Brenten Hall
of Jay, Oklahoma, and Chase
Tryan of Helena, Montana,
with an average time of 9.9
seconds. However, they
edged them out by 0.1 sec-
onds for the night’s main
event, roping their steer in
just 4.8 seconds, while Hall
and Tryan finished in 4.9.
Masters is a two-time
world champ in steer wres-
tling, taking the title in both
2007 and 2012. He’s also
won the event in Farm-
City in 2006. Harrison has
already qualified for the
NFR at the end of the sea-
son, where he’ll team rope
with Charley Crawford of
Prineville, Oregon. Still,
despite their accomplish-
ments, the team was sur-
prised by the night’s results.
“I thought we took a lot
longer,” Masters said. “It
worked out really well. We
Ty Baker of Van Horn,
Texas, may have won the
night with an 8.3-sec-
ond time in tie down rop-
ing, but it was Jason Minor
of Ellensburg, Washington,
who claimed the event’s No.
1 spot after Farm-City’s first
three nights.
Minor trailed behind
Baker by just 0.2 seconds,
finishing at 8.5, but with
Baker’s no-time in the day’s
slack and Minor’s score of
10.4, he sits atop the average
with 18.9.
It was a slow start in
the event, with the first
few cowboys out the gate
receiving no-time for fail-
ing to rope their calves prop-
erly. It wasn’t until Baker
and Minor took their turns
when the competition really
started to heat up.
“It was a little tough
tonight,” Minor said. “The
calves were all fresh and
untrained.”
Although he’s from
Ellensburg, Minor has roots
in Hermiston — his wife
Haley, who also competes
in the rodeo, calls this town
home. His cousins Riley and
Brady will team rope on Sat-
urday, and Riley’s wife Jor-
dan took first in barrel racing
on Thursday night.
MINOR: She’s raced in over 60 rodeos so far this year, currently ranked No. 3
Continued from 1B
the rodeo.
In fact, it was the rodeo
that brought the two together
in the first place. The cou-
ple met as freshmen in high
school when they toured
rodeos during their summers
off.
“We went to every rodeo
together,” she said.
They started dating when
they were seniors in 2007 and
married four years later. The
rodeo lifestyle hasn’t slowed
down for either of them, how-
ever. Riley, 30, stands at No.
8 in the world in team roping,
in which he competes along-
side his brother Brady. He
has qualified for the Wrangler
National Finals four times
and has won rodeos in Mar-
wayne, Alberta; Bakersfield,
California; and Coulee City,
Washington, this year alone.
The two spend much of
their time apart, touring the
country and riding in rodeos
from coast to coast between
June and September.
“We’re together in the win-
ter and spring, but when the
heat of the summer comes,
we go our separate ways,”
Minor said. “We both grew
up around rodeos; we’re used
to the different schedules.”
She’s raced in over 60
rodeos so far this year.
“You get tired of the long
drives, but once you’re in the
arena, it’s always exciting,”
she said.
Minor is currently at No.
3 in the Columbia River Cir-
cuit. Thursday, she finished
off a nail-biting race on top,
edging out Cheyenne Allan
of Mabton, Washington, and
Teri Bangart of Olympia,
who hold the No. 1 and No. 2
spots, respectively.
She clocked in at 17.19
seconds, besting Allan’s
time by just .03 seconds and
staking her claim over her
home turf. But for Minor, it’s
important to keep a level head
and stay focused on what’s to
come.
“I don’t pay much atten-
tion to the standings,” she
said. “They change every day,
and it’s a tough circuit. I like
to take it one rodeo at a time.”
Her mother, grandmother,
aunt, and sister Jade were
all in attendance for her big
hometown victory. After
the race, her mother helped
her groom her 8-year-old
horse, preparing it for their
next competition, which is
six hours away in Missoula,
Montana.
“My parents taught me
everything I know, and they
still teach me new things
every day,” Minor said. “My
mom records every run we
make so we can learn from
our mistakes and improve for
the next time around.”
The rodeo life means
spending months on the road,
often away from family. It’s
rare that the entire Minor/
Crossley family is together
under one roof, but when they
are, there’s only one thing on
their minds.
“We’re usually talking
about the rodeo — where
we’re going next, training
our horses, and raising new
colts,” she said. “I want to do
this for as long as I can. Mon-
roe already loves the horses,
it just runs in the family.”
SCOREBOARD
Baseball
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
American League
East Division
W
L Pct GB
Boston
82 35 .701 —
New York
72 43 .626
9
Tampa Bay
59 57 .509 22½
Toronto
52 63 .452 29
Baltimore
35 81 .302 46½
Central Division W
L Pct GB
Cleveland
64 51 .557 —
Minnesota
53 62 .461 11
Detroit
48 68 .414 16½
Chicago
42 73 .365 22
Kansas City
35 80 .304 29
West Division
W
L Pct GB
Houston
73 44 .624 —
Oakland
68 48 .586 4½
Seattle
67 50 .573
6
Los Angeles
59 58 .504 14
Texas
52 66 .441 21½
Friday’s Games
Boston 19, Baltimore 12
Texas 12, N.Y. Yankees 7
Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 0
Detroit 5, Minnesota 3
Chicago White Sox 1, Cleveland 0
Seattle 5, Houston 2
St. Louis 7, Kansas City 0
L.A. Angels 4, Oakland 3
Saturday’s Games
Boston (Price 11-6) at Baltimore (Yacabo-
nis 0-0), 10:05 a.m., 1st game
Texas (Hutchison 1-2) at N.Y. Yankees
(Lynn 8-8), 10:05 a.m.
Tampa Bay (Stanek 1-3) at Toronto (Gavi-
glio 2-4), 1:07 p.m.
Minnesota (Gibson 5-9) at Detroit (Liriano
3-6), 3:10 p.m.
Boston (Cuevas 0-0) at Baltimore (Ramirez
1-4), 4:05 p.m., 2nd game
Cleveland (Bauer 11-6) at Chicago White
Sox (Shields 4-13), 4:10 p.m.
Seattle (LeBlanc 6-2) at Houston (Morton
12-2), 4:10 p.m.
St. Louis (Flaherty 5-6) at Kansas City
(Duffy 7-10), 4:15 p.m.
Oakland (Jackson 3-2) at L.A. Angels
(Skaggs 8-7), 6:07 p.m.
Sunday’s Games
Boston at Baltimore, 10:05 a.m.
Texas at N.Y. Yankees, 10:05 a.m.
Tampa Bay at Toronto, 10:07 a.m.
Minnesota at Detroit, 10:10 a.m.
Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 11:10
a.m.
Seattle at Houston, 11:10 a.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City, 11:15 a.m.
Oakland at L.A. Angels, 1:07 p.m.
National League
East Division
Atlanta
Philadelphia
Washington
New York
Miami
Central Division
Chicago
Milwaukee
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
West Division
Arizona
Los Angeles
Colorado
San Francisco
San Diego
W
63
64
59
48
47
W
67
66
61
60
51
W
64
64
61
57
47
L
50
51
57
65
70
L
48
53
55
56
65
L
53
53
55
59
71
Pct
.558
.557
.509
.425
.402
Pct
.583
.555
.526
.517
.440
Pct
.547
.547
.526
.491
.398
GB
—
—
5½
15
18
GB
—
3
6½
7½
16½
GB
—
—
2½
6½
17½
Friday’s Games
Chicago Cubs 3, Washington 2
Cincinnati 3, Arizona 0
N.Y. Mets 6, Miami 2
Atlanta 10, Milwaukee 1
St. Louis 7, Kansas City 0
Colorado 5, L.A. Dodgers 4
San Diego 2, Philadelphia 0
Pittsburgh at San Francisco, 10:15 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
Washington (Roark 6-12) at Chicago Cubs
(Lester 12-4), 1:05 p.m.
Arizona (Ray 3-2) at Cincinnati (Harvey
5-7), 3:40 p.m.
Milwaukee (Miley 2-1) at Atlanta (Teheran
8-7), 4:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Oswalt 1-2) at Miami (Straily
4-5), 4:10 p.m.
St. Louis (Flaherty 5-6) at Kansas City
(Duffy 7-10), 4:15 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 5-4) at Colorado
(Freeland 10-7), 5:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Nola 12-3) at San Diego
(Lockett 0-2), 5:40 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Williams 9-8) at San Francisco
(TBD), 6:05 p.m.
Sunday’s Games
Arizona at Cincinnati, 10:10 a.m.
N.Y. Mets at Miami, 10:10 a.m.
Milwaukee at Atlanta, 10:35 a.m.
St. Louis at Kansas City, 11:15 a.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Colorado, 12:10 p.m.
Philadelphia at San Diego, 12:40 p.m.
Pittsburgh at San Francisco, 1:05 p.m.
Washington at Chicago Cubs, 5:05 p.m.
Basketball
Soccer
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
T Pts GF
Atlanta FC
14
4
6 48 50
New York
14
6
2 44 44
New York FC
13
5
5 44 45
Columbus
10
7
6 36 30
Montreal
9 13
2 29 30
New England
7
7
8 29 36
Philadelphia
8 11
3 27 29
Orlando City
7 14
2 23 35
Toronto FC
6 11
5 23 37
Chicago
6 13
5 23 35
D.C. United
4
9
6 18 30
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
T Pts GF
FC Dallas
12
4
6 42 36
Portland
10
3
7 37 33
Sporting K.C.
10
6
6 36 40
Los Angeles FC 10
6
6 36 45
LA Galaxy
10
8
5 35 44
Real Salt Lake 10
9
4 34 33
Vancouver
8
9
6 30 36
Seattle
8
9
5 29 24
Minnesota United 9 13
1 28 36
Houston
7
9
6 27 39
Colorado
5 12
5 20 27
San Jose
3 12
7 16 32
NOTE: Three points for victory, one point
for tie.
———
Saturday’s Games
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’s Games
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.
GA
28
23
29
29
40
35
37
54
41
48
36
GA
28
25
30
37
38
40
46
25
46
33
37
41
WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct GB
x-Atlanta
20 10 .667 —
x-Washington
19 11 .633
1
x-Connecticut
17 13 .567
3
Chicago
11 19 .367
9
New York
7 22 .241 12½
Indiana
5 25 .167 15
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct GB
x-Seattle
23
8 .742 —
x-Los Angeles
18 12 .600 4½
x-Minnesota
17 13 .567 5½
x-Phoenix
17 14 .548
6
Dallas
14 15 .483
8
Las Vegas
12 18 .400 10½
x-clinched playoff spot
Friday’s Games
Chicago 97, Connecticut 86
Phoenix 94, Indiana 74
Saturday’s Games
Dallas at Atlanta, 11 a.m.
Indiana at Las Vegas, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday’s Games
Atlanta at New York, 11:30 a.m.
Chicago at Connecticut, 12 p.m.
Dallas at Washington, 12 p.m.
Los Angeles at Phoenix, 4 p.m.
Seattle at Minnesota, 4 p.m.
Football
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Preseason
Friday’s Games
N.Y. Jets 17, Atlanta 0
Oakland 16, Detroit 10
Saturday’s Games
Minnesota at Denver, 6 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Arizona, 7 p.m.
Golf
PGA Championship
Friday,
At Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis
Purse: TBA ($10.5 million in 2017)
Yardage: 7,316; Par: 70
Leaderboard at time of suspended play
Golfer
Score
Thru
Gary Woodland
-10
F
Kevin Kisner
-9
F
Brooks Keopka
-8
F
Dustin Johnson
-7
F
Charl Schwartzel
-7
F
Thomas Pieters
-7
F
Rickie Fowler
-7
10
Brandon Stone
-6
F
Auto Racing
NASCAR CUP SERIES
Consumers Energy 400 Lineup
After Friday’s Qualifying; race Sunday,
11:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
At Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Mich.
Car number in parentheses
1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 202.794
mph.
2. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 202.731.
3. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 202.100.
4. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 201.805.
5. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 201.748.
6. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 201.658.
7. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 201.421.
8. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 201.309.
9. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 201.230.
10. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 201.185.
11. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 200.524.
12. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 200.033.
13. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford,
200.842.
14. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 200.814.
15. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet,
200.574.
16. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 200.267.
17. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200.072.
18. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 199.590.
19. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet,
199.496.
20. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet,
199.231.
21. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 199.077.
22. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet,
197.721.
23. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet,
197.596.
24. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 197.439.
25. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet,
197.352.
26. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 197.298.
27. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 197.298.
28. (95) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 197.287.
29. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford,
196.512.
30. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 196.383.
31. (00) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet,
195.567.
32. (72) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 193.533.
33. (51) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 191.744.
34. (99) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet,
190.446.
35. (15) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet,
189.663.
36. (7) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet,
188.344.
37. (66) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 185.648.
38. (96) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota,
184.054.
39. (23) Blake Jones, Toyota, 182.315.
40. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 0.000.