by ldh2013 » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:43 am
SEATTLE -- Less than a week ago, nothing was going right for Kyle Seager and the Mariners. . Since then Seager just keeps hitting home runs and Seattle has started to see some wins. Seager hit a pair of homers Sunday, including a three-run shot in the eighth, to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-5 comeback win against the Texas Rangers. Seager has five homers in his last four games, a power surge that started with a two-homer game against the Astros on Wednesday. Before that game, Seager was hitting .156 with no home runs and two RBI, a slump that matched the teams performance -- Seattle lost its eighth straight game Tuesday. In the four games since, hes gone 8 for 15, added five homers and 11 RBI and raised his season average to .228 while the Mariners have won three of the four. Hes also had at least two hits in all four games, tying a career-best streak. "Its been a good run. I think if you continue to stay with the program and not panic, hopefully itll come around sooner or later," Seager said. "Its been feeling good for a little while. The results obviously werent what I was hoping for, but it was starting to come around." The Mariners fell behind 5-0 to Texas early before Seager led the late rally. Seager led off the seventh inning with his first home run and then gave Seattle the lead with his two-out shot down the right field line in the eighth off Alexi Ogando (1-2). "Theres nothing like positive results," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "When you start to get some positive results you feel better about what youre doing and how youre doing it." The comeback victory also gave the Mariners their first home series win against Texas since September 2012. The homers more than made up for an earlier missed opportunity, when Seager struck out with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning. "I thought we had him for a minute," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I thought he was slumping. But I guess hes not." Danny Farquhar (1-0) pitched the eighth to earn the win and Fernando Rodney closed out the ninth for his fifth save. Rangers starter Matt Harrison made his first appearance in more than a year, giving up two runs on three hits in six innings. Harrison was activated from the disabled list before the game to make his first appearance since April 6, 2013. Harrison was the Rangers opening day starter last season but only pitched two games before going on the disabled list with an inflamed nerve in his lower back. He had two back surgeries in a nine-day span a year ago, and another surgery on his right side in September. He battled stiffness in his back and neck during spring training, starting the season on the disabled list. "Glad to be back," Harrison said. "Its been a long road." Harrison had no problems in the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced. But a lengthy top of the fourth -- the Rangers had eight batters and scored three runs to take the 5-0 lead -- seemed to affect Harrison as he came out for the bottom of the inning. Harrison walked Michael Saunders to lead off the fourth, and Robinson Cano got the Mariners first hit with a one-out, run-scoring double. Harrison gave up another single and a walk to load the bases with two outs before Seagers strikeout. Harrison gave up another run in the sixth when Cano singled and later scored on Harrisons wild pitch to cut the Rangers lead to 5-2. Seattle starter Brandon Maurer was knocked out in the fourth inning after giving up five runs on seven hits, but the Mariners bullpen -- Seattle used six pitchers on the day -- gave up just one hit the rest of the way. "They saved us," McClendon said. "Its hard to win games when your bullpen is giving you four, five innings. Its hard to win, and they shut it down. They threw up zeros." NOTES: McClendon gave his usual Nos. 1 and 2 hitters -- OF Abraham Almonte and SS Brad Miller -- the day off. Both players have been struggling offensively, with Almonte hitting .204 and Miller .174. "Well give them both some time off and hopefully theyll bounce back," McClendon said. ... Texas optioned IF Luis Sardinas to Double-A Frisco before the game. There had been speculation the Rangers would place OF Shin-Soo Choo, who hasnt played since his hurting his left ankle at Oakland on Monday, on the DL to make room for Harrison. Washington said the Rangers are waiting to see if Choo will be able to play soon. .S. Open title at Pebble Beach to winning the match that gave Europe victory in the Ryder Cup. He knew an encore was going to be tough. .com) - The Carolina Hurricanes were shut out in their most recent trip to the ice, but their offensive struggles are nowhere near as alarming as what is currently plaguing the Calgary Flames. . The Dutch legend captured her second gold medal in the 3,000 metres on Sunday to go with the gold she won in 2006 in Turin.TORONTO -- Mats Sundin says it would have felt strange to win the Stanley Cup anywhere but Toronto. Criticized in many circles for refusing to waive a no-trade clause as his career with the Maple Leafs wound down in 2008, Sundin still maintains all he ever wanted to do was bring a championship to what he calls his "second home." "My strength and maybe my weakness is that Im a loyal guy," the former Leafs captain said Friday. "I felt that you spend so much time in an organization and in Toronto, I always saw myself winning the Stanley Cup in Toronto. "I wanted to do that and also (realized) it would never feel the same doing it somewhere else." Sundin, who joined the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent midway through the following season before retiring, says his biggest accomplishment as a player was winning Olympic gold in 2006. Still, he was never interested in being a rental player just for the chance win a Cup with another team. "When youre 22 or 23, its about winning the championship," he said. "As you grow older you enjoy the journey, the travel and the grind of getting together a group of guys in the fall and build up to a goal in the spring. (That) was the thing that was great, the long-term commitment." The 40-year-old Sundin was at the University of Toronto on Friday to announce hes donating more than $300,000 to establish a scientific exchange program between the school and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Hes is in Toronto this week as the team is set to honour his No. 13 jersey before Saturday nights home game against the Montreal Canadiens. Sundin, who now makes his home in Stockholm, returned to Toronto with the Canucks in February 2009 and received a warm reception from fans at Air Canada Centre. Leafs defenceman Carl Gunnarsson estimates that Sundin is in the top-three favourite players in Sweden with Borje Salming and Peter Forsberg. "Everyone loves him back home," Gunnarsson said. "Winning the Olympics was huge." Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson remembers watching Sundin when he was growing up in Sweden.. . "I could see games because he was one of the greatest. Toronto was one of the teams that we liked to see in Sweden, they showed a lot of games from Toronto," Gustavsson said. "But its tough to realize how big he is ... before you actually come over here and you hear everybody talking about him. "It doesnt matter if hes a cab driver from India, he knows two Swedish guys -- thats Salming and Sundin. Thats the biggest conversation that Ive had with the cab drivers. Its always about them." Darryl Boyce is the only current member of the Leafs to have played with Sundin after making his NHL debut with the club back in 2008. "Its a pretty big thrill for me looking back now. Hes sort of a bigger than life character now that hes away from the game (because) of all that he did for the city of Toronto and the Toronto Maple Leafs," said Boyce, who played just one game with the Leafs that year before getting injured. "(He was) not so much a vocal leader, but when stuff needed to be done he took it upon himself and did it on the ice. "That sort of quiet, silent leader in the dressing room." The money announced Friday will support two fellowships at the labs where scientists are probing how maternal health and early life experiences determine a childs future. "Elite athletes and elite scientists have a lot in common. Both have a great drive to achieve their goal, both work hard every day trying to get better and both are in very tough competition with and against hard-working competitors," Sundin said. "This program supports scientists trying to understand the importance of the first 2,000 days of our lives and how they will affect us the rest of our lives." Sundin, who registered 564 goals and 785 assists in 1,346 games over 18 seasons, hopes to keep the fellowship going for years to come. "When you visit a place like Sick Kids hospital, you meet the kids who are permanently ill or going through tough times, you want to reach out an help back," Sundin said. "The Leafs have taught me to look for things like that." ' ' '