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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2019)
SPORTS Saturday, April 6, 2019 East Oregonian B3 Moncada, White Sox win home opener, beat messy Mariners By ANDREW SELIGMAN Associated Press shot to center. CHICAGO — Yoan Moncada has a more aggressive approach at the plate, a new position in the field and a strong belief that games like this are going to be the norm for him. Moncada hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the sev- enth inning and the Chi- cago White Sox won a wild home opener, beating the Seattle Mariners 10-8 on Friday. A day after their home opener was postponed because of inclement weather, the White Sox ended Seattle’s four-game winning streak. The Mari- ners had been off to a fran- chise-best 7-1 start. Chicago took advantage of three errors by shortstop Tim Beckham in the first inning for an early lead, then rallied when the Seat- tle bullpen couldn’t find the strike zone. The White Sox drew three walks in the seventh, with Monca- da’s single off Zac Rosscup making it 9-8 after Cory Gearrin (0-1) hit Weling- ton Castillo with the bases loaded. Moncada, batting .458 with 10 RBIs through six games, just missed a grand slam in the first when he lined a two-run double against Yusei Kikuchi that deflected off a leaping cen- ter fielder Mallex Smith’s glove. “Days like today are going to come in a bunch Eloy Jimenez acknowl- edged he felt some pressure after going 0 for 4 in his first game in Chicago. But the White Sox’s prized prospect also enjoyed the moment. “I tried having fun,” said Jimenez, whose parents were at the game. “Especially (since) it was a tough day. I tried to not think about it and just enjoy the moment and be playing with the fans.” Jimenez at home Quotable “A lot of exciting things happened. I’m a dad. I had a good game today. Special week for me.” — Anderson. Trainer’s room AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox players stands for the national anthem before a baseball game on Friday in Chicago. this season,” he said through a translator. The White Sox are counting on that from the 23-year-old Moncada in his second full season. A key piece in the deal that sent ace Chris Sale to Boston at the 2016 winter meetings, he led the majors in strike- outs and committed more errors than any other sec- ond baseman last season. But he adjusted his approach at the plate, switched to third base. And he is looking like a different player in the early going. Tim Anderson added three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth. He scored four runs and drove in three after missing two games to be with wife Bria for the birth of their second child, daughter Paxton. Domingo Santana and Dan Vogelbach homered early for Seattle. Ryon Healy and Mitch Haniger hit two-run homers in the sixth for an 8-6 lead. Ryan Burr (1-0) worked a scoreless 1⅓ innings in relief. Alex Colome retired all three batters in the ninth for his second save in as many opportunities, and Chicago overcame a shaky start by Reynaldo Lopez to win for the third time in four games. “We got a lot of gamers on the team, man, and even though we lost that game we showed a lot of fight and it shows a lot about our team,” Beckham said. Starters struggle Kikuchi gave up six runs — four earned — and seven hits over five innings in his first start since his father died of cancer over the weekend. Lopez allowed six runs and six hits. Healy chased him with a tying, two-run drive to the left-field bullpen in the sixth after Omar Nar- vaez led off with a single. Jace Fry retired the next two batters before Smith singled and Haniger drove a two-run Mariners: Manager Scott Servais said INF/DH Edwin Encarnacion (left hand) was feeling “a lot better” and was available to pinch hit after being scratched from the lineup against the Los Angeles Angels on Tues- day. The Mariners opted to keep Encarnacion out of the lineup for the second straight game because of the chilly conditions in Chicago. ... Servais wasn’t sure if 2B Dee Gordon (tight groin) will be available Saturday after exiting this game in the fourth inning. White Sox: OF Jon Jay (strained right hip) had no timetable for his return from the injured list, though he said he is getting better. He also said the problem side- lined him last month is more in the groin area. Elliott earns 1st short track pole with run at Bristol By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer BRISTOL, Tenn. — Chase Elliott positioned himself to give Hendrick Motorsports a shot at its first victory of the season with a pole-winning run at Bristol Motor Speedway. Elliott earned his first pole on a short track with a fast lap at 131.7132 mph on Friday around the bull- ring to earn the fifth pole of his career. His previous four were at either Daytona or Talladega, the biggest and fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit. “I’ve really been want- ing a pole outside of Day- tona and Talladega for a long time now, so I feel like I was finally able to contrib- ute from my end a little bit more and get a pole that my team certainly deserves,” Elliott said. “We have some work to do for Sunday and try to get it driving good for 500 laps.” Elliott edged team- mate William Byron for the top starting spot and an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row on Sunday. “It’s awesome to be one- two for Hendrick Motor- sports,” said Byron, who noted that he started sec- ond last week at Texas, too, alongside teammate Jim- mie Johnson. “I hate to be on the sec- ond end of it, but it’s still fun to start on the front row. I feel like we’re mak- ing huge strides in the speed of our cars and it just makes things easier at the track.” Leading off: Dodgers hitting HRs, Red Sox skid, Reds drought Associated Press A look at what’s a hap- pening around the majors Saturday: LA longballs Cody Bellinger and the Los Angeles Dodgers are on a home run rampage, hitting a whopping 21 in their first eight games — that’s the sec- ond-most in major league his- tory in that span, only behind the St. Louis Cardinals’ 23 in 2000. After launching a fran- chise-record 235 homers last year, the NL champion Dodg- ers have connected in every game so far this season. Rockies righty Jon Gray tries to keep the Dodgers in the park when he starts against them at Coors Field. Bellinger leads the majors with six home runs. Skids The defending World Series champion Red Sox are 2-7 on their season-opening 11-game road trip. They got pounded 15-8 Friday night in Arizona — starting pitcher Rick Porcello flung a water cooler against the back wall of the Boston dugout after getting hit hard, and infielder Eduardo Nunez came in to pitch in the eighth inning and gave up a home run to Alex Avila. ... Joey Votto and the Reds have been shut out in three straight games. Their scoreless string of 28 innings is the longest for Cincinnati since a 30-game drought in 2015. ... The Marlins have dropped nine games in a row at Atlanta. Nice start Padres rookie Chris Padd- ack tries to duplicate his early success when he starts at St. Louis. In his major league debut last weekend, the 23-year-old righty gave up two hits and one run in five innings against San Francisco. Paddack will aim to slow down Cardinals newcomer Paul Goldschmidt, who has homered five times in seven games. Check him The Seattle Mariners will see how second baseman Dee Gordon is feeling, a day after he left a game because of a tight groin. Manager Scott Servais isn’t sure whether Gordon will be back in the lineup in Chicago against the White Sox. Welcome Hoping to boost a thin starting rotation, the Orioles have signed Dan Straily to a $575,000, one-year contact. The 30-year-old right- hander was released March 25 by the Marlins. He was 15-15 in two seasons with the Marlins. Straily was limited to 23 starts last year, when he went on the disabled list twice because of forearm and oblique strains. Ryan Blaney qualified third in a Ford for Team Penske, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin in a pair of Toyotas. Blaney set a track record in the second round of qualifying, but in the third round, when the starting order is set, Elliott had the faster car. He became the eighth different driver to win a pole through eight qualifying sessions this season as there has yet to be a repeat pole-winner. Hendrick Motorsports, coming off one of the worst seasons in its storied his- tory, has won three poles this season with Elliott, Byron and Jimmie John- son. But the highest finish to date this season for the four-car stable was Elliott two weeks ago at Martins- ville Speedway, where he finished second. Elliott led 49 laps at the Virginia short track before fading against winner Brad Keselowski, but the show- ing at Martinsville coupled with the pole at Bristol has Elliott in position to get his first win of the season. All seven races this year have been won by driv- ers from Joe Gibbs Rac- ing (Toyota) and Team Penske (Ford) as the Chev- rolet teams are still playing catch-up in the second-year Camaro. Rounding out the top 12 for Sunday were Aric Almi- rola, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Johnson, Ryan Newman and Keselowski. Eight of the top 13 qualifying cars AP Photo/Wade Payne Driver Chase Elliott is seen before practice for a NASCAR Cup Series auto race on Friday in Bristol, Tenn. were Fords. NASCAR sent a memo to teams reminding them of a new media policy that requires every driver to visit a media bullpen follow- ing qualifying, and warned fines can be issued to driv- ers who skip the session or are “verbally aggressive to a NASCAR staff member or media member.” Under the mem- ber conduct guidelines in NASCAR’s rule book it states a driver can be fined between $10,000 and $50,000 for various viola- tions that include meeting media obligations.
