Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2022)
S PORTS A5 Stay connected with local sports! Get text alerts with up-to-date scores and schedules from Central Oregon high school sports events. Sign up at bendbulletin.com/text or scan the QR code. THE BULLETIN • MoNday, JUNE 13, 2022 bendbulletin.com/sports MLB MOTOR SPORTS ‘Unreal’ Boston homers lift Red Sox over Mariners SEATTLE — Rafael De- vers stunned his team- mates, his manager and his opponent. Pitches that far out of the strike zone are not supposed to end up over the fence. “Unreal,” Boston man- ager Alex Cora said. “It’s just hand-eye coordina- tion, power. You’ve got to be perfect to hit a ball like that, and he was for this one.” Devers hit a two-run homer in the eighth in- ning, spot starter Kutter Crawford and five relievers combined on a one-hitter, and the Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 Sun- day. The Red Sox finished 8-2 on a 10-game trip. — Associated Press MOTOR SPORTS Verstappen wins in Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan — Max Verstappen once again pounced when rival Charles Leclerc faltered in their race for the Formula One title. Verstappen extended his F1 championship lead by winning the Azerbai- jan Grand Prix on Sunday — his fifth victory of the season — following yet another Leclerc early re- tirement. Leclerc seemed poised to challenge for the win, but the Monaco driv- er’s car started spewing smoke on lap 20 of 51 and he had to pull into the pits. His engine had failed — Leclerc’s second retire- ment in three races. — Associated Press GOLF First woman wins European tour A female player has won an event on the Eu- ropean tour for the first time. Linn Grant made his- tory in amazing style, too. The 22-year-old Swede obliterated a field of both male and female golfers at the Scandi- navian Mixed event on Sunday, winning by nine strokes after an 8-under 64 in the final round at Halmstad Golf Club. “I just hope people recognize women’s golf more now,” Grant said, “that more sponsors go to the LET (Ladies European Tour) than to the men’s tour, and hopefully this pumps up the women’s game a little bit more.” — Associated Press ON DECK Prep sports SUNDAY West Coast League baseball: yaki- ma Valley Pippins at Bend Elks, Genna Stadium, 6:35 p.m. ON THE AIR Monday SOCCER UEFANations League, Kazakhstan vs. Slovakia, 7 a.m., FS2 UEFANations League, azerbaijan vs. Belarus, 9 a.m., FS2 World Cup 2022 qualifying, australia vs. Peru, 11 a.m., FS1 UEFANations League, denmark vs. austria, 11:30 a.m., FS2 BASEBALL NCAA Super Regional (if nec.), 9 a.m., ESPN2 NCAA Super Regional (if nec.), noon, ESPN2 NCAA Super Regional (if nec.), 3 p.m., ESPN2 MLB, regional coverage, 5 p.m., MLB NCAA Super Regional (if nec.), 6 p.m., ESPN2 MLB, Minnesota at Seattle, 7 p.m., Root/Root+ SOFTBALL Athletes Unlimited, aUX: orange vs. Gold, 3 p.m., ESPNU Athletes Unlimited, aUX: Blue vs. Gold, 5:30 p.m., ESPN BASKETBALL NBA Finals, Boston at Golden State, 6 p.m., aBC D. Ross Cameron/AP Cars navigate the turns during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. HISTORIC VICTORY Daniel Suárez is the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup race BY GREG BEACHAM • Associated Press S ONOMA, Calif. — Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday, holding off Chris Buescher for a historic victory at Sonoma Raceway. Suárez, a 30-year-old native of Monterrey, finally won in the 195th career start of a Cup Series career that began in 2017. He also drove his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the third Cup Series victory of the season for this rising 2-year-old team co-owned by former driver Justin Marks and music star Pitbull. Suárez got past Buescher and took charge early in the final stage on this hilly road course in Northern California wine country, and he persevered through a pit stop and a caution to emerge in front with 23 laps to go. Buescher pushed him aggressively, but Suárez made no significant mistakes while rolling to victory. “It’s crazy,” Suárez said. “I have so many thoughts in my head right now. It’s been a rough journey in the Cup Series, and these guys believed in me. I have a lot of people to thank in Mexico. My family, they never gave up on me. A lot of people did, but they didn’t. I’m just happy we were able to make it work.” D. Ross Cameron/AP The main grandstand was full for the first time since be- fore the COVID-19 pandemic during a NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. Suárez’s team partied wildly when it was over, even pulling out a celebratory piñata shaped like a taco. The piñata was requested by Suárez for whenever he got his first win and clinched a spot in the playoffs — and he celebrated by punching a hole through it with his fist. “They believed in me since Day One,” Suárez said of his team. “(We’ve got) all the people, all the re- sources to make it happen.” Suárez then addressed his fans briefly in Spanish, saying: “This is the first one of many.” Buescher’s second-place finish was also a season best in his RFK Racing Ford. He fell just short of his second career victory. “Hurts to be that close, but congratulations to Suárez,” Buescher said. “We were trying, trying to get him. Ran out of steam there.” Suárez, who won the Xfinity Series championship in 2016, is the fifth foreign-born driver to win a Cup Series race. He joins Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya, Australia’s Marcos Ambrose, Canada’s Earl Ross and Italian-born American Mario Andretti. The success of Suárez and Trackhouse Racing could be a welcome boost to a sport eager to ex- pand its cultural footprint. After moving to the U.S. 11 years ago with a desire to race on bigger stages, Suárez is a major success story for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, which aims to bring new per- spectives and backgrounds to a largely monocultural organization for much of its history. Michael McDowell finished a season-best third in front of Kevin Harvick in cloudy conditions in Sonoma Raceway’s first Cup Series race at full ca- pacity since before the coronavirus pandemic. The crowd included about 350 rowdy fans from Suárez’s program, Daniel’s Amigos, which allows kids in sev- eral NASCAR cities to attend races. Austin Cindric was fifth in the final race before the Cup Series’ one-week midseason break. GOLF Rory McIlroy defends Brooke Henderson beats Canadian Open title Weaver-Wright in playoff Associated Press TORONTO — Rory McIlroy won the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday and gave the PGA Tour a strong response to the start of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invi- tational, closing with an 8-under 62 to win a wild race to the finish with Justin Thomas and Tony Fi- nau. McIlroy had his first title de- fense on the PGA Tour, even if he had to wait for it. He won golf’s fourth-oldest national open in 2019 at Hamilton Golf & Coun- try Club, only for the COVID-19 pandemic to cancel the next two editions. Thomas pushed him to the end at St. George’s Golf & Coun- try Club, and the tournament ef- fectively ended on the 17th hole. McIlroy and Thomas were tied and in the rough. McIlroy hit a wedge that rolled out to tap-in range, while Thomas missed a 10- foot par putt, a two-shot swing. Thomas closed with a pair of bo- geys and still shot 64. McIlroy finished at 19-under 261 for a two-stroke victory. “I feel like it’s getting tougher and tougher to win on the PGA Tour,” McIlroy said. “Just look at the two guys that I played with today. I went out with a lead and had to shoot 8-under par to get the Associated Press Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, kisses the trophy after winning the final round of the Canadian Open golf tournament on Sunday. job done. So the depth of talent on this tour is really, really impressive. And going up against guys like J.T. and Tony and coming out on top, that’s something to feel really good about.” Finau holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 64 to finish second alone. “Rory played great,” Finau said. “He closed it out and hat’s off to him on a week like this. That’s fan- tastic playing on the weekend. I played great, he just played a cou- ple shots better.” Thomas was third at 14 under. Justin Rose matched the tourna- ment- and course-record with a 60 — with three eagles and three bo- geys — to tie for fourth with Sam Burns (65) at 14 under. GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Brooke Henderson closed with a 7-under 64 a year ago in the ShopRite LPGA Clas- sic and finished second. The 24-year-old Canadian matched the final-round performance in the event this year, and still had work to do. This time she got the job done Sunday after over- coming a four-shot deficit. Henderson eagled the first playoff hole to beat Lindsey Weaver-Wright for her 11th tour victory and first this year. “I just was trying to go low and see what happens,” Henderson said. “I didn’t think — I mean, I thought the victory was a possibility, but there are a lot of really talented players ahead of me and I think I was four shots back starting the day. “I knew it was going to take a little bit of magic, and I’m just really happy that I’m sitting here next to the trophy.” The real magic was her second shot in the playoff on the par-5, No. 18 at the Seaview Hotel and Golf Club. She hit a 7-wood from 193 yards within 10 feet. She has used the same club to set up an eagle at No. 9 earlier in the day. Weaver-Wright, a 28-year-old Amer- ican still looking for her first tour win, forced the playoff with birdies on four of the last six holes, including a long one at No. 17 and a 10-footer at the par-5 final hole for a 65. Weaver-Wright found the fairway in the playoff but her second shot was Matt Rourke/AP Brooke M. Henderson, of Canada, holds the trophy after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic on Sunday. short of the green. Her third shot landed around the same distance from the hole as Henderson, but she was away. She missed her birdie putt and Henderson, ranked No. 11 in the world, had no pres- sure making the eagle to win to pocket $262,500. “I’ve always loved a victory and never tried to take them for granted, but with the pandemic in 2020 I only played 10 events, and I think I had six top 10s but no victory,” Henderson said. “So that was a little bit of a — it shook the confidence a little bit.” Henderson, who finished second in the opening event on tour this year, seems to have her confidence back.
