Kole Calhoun has come a long way since getting a needed break on the disabled list last month
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Calhoun hit a two-run homer, Richards pitched effectively into the sixth inning and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Mariners 7-4 on Wednesday to snap Seattle’s eight-game winning streak.
Batting in the leadoff spot for only the fourth time this season, Calhoun had three hits and drove in three runs to help lift Richards (5-4) in his return.
Calhoun’s towering homer in the sixth gave the Angels a 6-2 lead. He also had a single in the fourth inning for his first RBI. Calhoun is batting .306 with four homers and eight RBIs since coming off the DL on June 18. He was hitting .145 before that break.
”Kole did his job today,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ”That’s what we need from the guys at the top of the order. It gave us a lot of opportunities today.”
Richards, who went on the DL on June 15 with a left hamstring strain, allowed three runs, including back-to-back homers to Kyle Seager and Ryon Healy, over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight.
”I just overthrew a couple of heaters there,” Richards said of the home runs. ”But I felt good. The hamstring felt good. I knew I would be on a leash (80 pitches), so I just tried to execute pitches.”
Richards retired 10 of the next 11 hitters he faced after the home runs.
”Garrett just exhaled (after the homers) and made some really good pitches,” Scioscia said. ”He gave us a chance to win the game.”
Blake Parker pitched out of trouble in the ninth for his 10th save. Mike Zunino singled and Denard Span doubled to put runners at second and third, but Dee Gordon flied out to center and Zunino was thrown out at the plate on Jean Segura’s grounder to Albert Pujols at first. Mitch Haniger ended it with a groundout to third.
Parker failed to cover first on the grounder to Pujols, so Pujols had no choice but to throw home.
”Pujols getting that guy at the plate was a huge out,” Scioscia said. ”The pitcher didn’t cover there
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The Mariners had their chances, including a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the seventh inning when trailing 6-3. After Gordon and Span struck out, Segura hit a broken-bat flare that looked like it might drop behind second base and score two runs, but Angels second baseman David Fletcher made a leaping catch to end the inning.
”I got a pretty good read off the bat,” Fletcher said. ”I kind of felt I had a bead on it all the way. It was a nice feeling to save those runs from scoring.”
The Mariners struck out 15 times and left eight men on base.
Mike Leake (8-5) allowed four runs and nine hits before leaving with no one out in the fifth. He had allowed two runs or less in seven of his previous eight starts.
”They were battling me, fouling balls off today,” Leake said. ”Trying to get them to go down, but they found some holes and that’s about it.”
Luis Valbuena drove in two runs for the Angels and Shohei Ohtani and two hits and scored two runs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: OF Chris Young was placed on the 10-day DL a day after straining his hamstring. LHP Tyler Skaggs was also placed on the DL with a thigh strain. Skaggs said hopes to miss only one start. OF Jabari Blash and RHP Deck McGuire were recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake, with INF Kaleb Cowart also optioned to Triple-A. … LHP John Lamb will undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow early next week. He’ll become the fourth Angels pitcher to have the procedure this season.
Mariners: Manager Scott Servais said RHP Erasmo Ramirez could begin a rehab assignment soon. Ramirez has been on the DL since May 1 because of a right teres major muscle strain in his pitching shoulder. Ramirez said is willing to pitch in relief if that’s where he’s needed.
UP NEXT
Angels RHP Jaime Barria (5-4, 3.40) will start Thursday’s series finale in place of Skaggs. Barria is making his 12th start of the season and has given up two earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. LHP Marco Gonzales (8-5, 3.77) will make his 18th start for Seattle. Gonzales pitched the first complete game of his career in his last start, a 4-1 victory over Kansas City when he allowed six hits and didn’t walk a batter.
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The Latest on Thursday night’s NBA draft (all times local):
11 p.m.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, which tied its record with nine NCAA Tournament teams earlier this year
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Duke accounted for half the ACC’s total with Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr. and Grayson Allen.
After setting a league record with eight NCAA teams, the Southeastern Conference ranked second again with five first-round picks – but only two from Kentucky. The SEC also tied its own mark with four lottery picks for the second time in four years for the league.
The Big Ten matched its four NCAA teams with four first-round draft picks.
The Big 12 fell far short of matching its seven NCAA berths with only three first-round picks. But the Pac 12, which had Arizona’s Deandre Ayton taken No. 1 overall, matched its three NCAA teams with three draft picks.
And Villanova, the defending national champ, helped the Big East top its two No. 1 seeds. Three Wildcats wound up drafted among the first 30 picks.
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9:10 p.m.
Michael Porter Jr. insists that he’s the best player in this draft.
Apparently, 13 teams disagreed.
Porter Jr., whose college career at Missouri was all of three games because of back surgery, fell to the very last lottery spot in Thursday night’s draft. The Denver Nuggets decided Porter Jr. was worth the gamble, taking him with the No. 14 selection.
Porter played just 53 minutes in college and cancelled a workout in recent days because of what was described as a hip issue.
The freefall is going to cost Porter some money. The top pick in this year’s draft, Deandre Ayton, is guaranteed to make at least $6.7 million. Porter Jr. is only guaranteed $2.4 million.
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9 p.m.
Before Deandre Ayton was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the first pick of the draft, he had signed a multimillion deal with Puma.
Ayton
Jorge Alfaro Jersey , one of three players in this class who made the choice to go with Puma over bigger brands such as Nike and Adidas, says it was an easy and personal decision for him.
He says, ”In the Bahamas, a lot of people cannot afford Nike or Adidas. Puma is the main brand and it’s very affordable, and growing up around that brand, I’m used to that brand.”
Ayton, who played at Arizona, is from Nassau, Bahamas. The inside of his draft tuxedo not only featured Bahama’s flag but also Nigeria and Jamaica ones. His mom is Jamaican and Bahamian. His dad is Nigerian.
Marvin Bagley III and Zhaire Smith also signed with Puma.
Ayton says he wants to ”start my own thing,” adding, ”I want to be dominant in my own brand, and I want to have my own signature one day to make it global.”
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7:50 p.m.
Luka Doncic won a championship on Tuesday. For Real Madrid. In Spain.
Two days later, he’s in the NBA.
The Slovenian teenager -considered one of the best prospects to come out of Europe- was picked No. 3 overall by the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, amid reports that he would quickly be traded to Dallas for the No. 5 pick and a future first-round selection.
This marks the seventh time in the last 13 drafts that at least one player has gone in the top five and will be entering the NBA directly from an international team. Andrea Bargnani went No. 1 overall in 2006; the last top-five to come from an international roster was Dragan Bender
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The international touch on this draft is already pronounced, with No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton being born in the Bahamas.
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7:40 p.m.
Only eight years after playing basketball for the first time, Deandre Ayton is the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
The Phoenix Suns made the long-expected move official on Thursday night, taking the Arizona center with the top overall pick. He’s the first Arizona player to go No. 1 in the draft; Mike Bibby was No. 2 in 1998 and Derrick Williams was No. 2 in 2011.
It’s history for Ayton, and history for his homeland as well.
Ayton is just the second player born in the Bahamas to go No. 1, joining Mychal Thompson – the top pick in the 1978 draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 7-foot-1 Ayton, who didn’t start playing basketball until he was 12, averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game in his lone college season. He’s the ninth consecutive one-and-done player to be taken No. 1 overall.
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7:25 p.m.
The players in New York who were headed to the Green Room were individually introduced on stage before the draft officially started. They had their names announced, special accolades and where they are from. Parents also got to walk out with their sons.
Members of the Jr. NBA lined up to clap and cheer, creating a walkway for the draft prospects as they went to sit down at their respective tables.
This is the first time NBA has started the draft with an elaborate introduction.
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6:40 p.m.
Avery Johnson is back at Barclays Center, home of some turbulent times.
Draft night will be a celebratory one for the Alabama coach, who is seated at the green room table of star Crimson Tide point guard Collin Sexton.
Johnson was the Nets‘ coach when they moved to Brooklyn in 2012 but was fired with a 14-14 record early in that first season shortly after they were blown out at home by Boston in a nationally televised Christmas Day game.
He eventually ended up at Alabama and coached here last season when the Crimson Tide played in the Barclays Center Classic. They finished their championship game los.
