S PORTS
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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.