BY LARRY STONE

The Seattle Times

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On a night when homers were fl ying out of Tropicana Field, it was a ball tipped over the wall by Seattle Mariners center fi elder Michael Saunders that proved decisive.

The play resulted in a home run for Luke Scott that lifted the Rays to a 5-4 victory Wednesday night that handed the Mariners their fi fth consecutive loss.

Kyle Seager nearly single-handedly kept the Mariners in the game with the fi rst two-homer game of his career. He drove in all four Mariners runs.

But the Mariners squan-dered a golden opportunity to tie the score in the eight after getting runners to fi rst and third with one out. Facing reliever Joel Peralta, Alex Liddi fouled off two full-count pitches before fouling out to the catcher. Justin Smoak, dropped to seventh in the order by manager Eric Wedge,

also worked the count full and sent a drive to right that was caught in front of the track.

Seager got the Mariners off to a highly promising start in the fi rst inning against Tampa Bay ace James Shields, who struck out 11 in his six innings of work.

He fanned the fi rst two hitters he faced, but Ichiro walked and Jesus Montero reached on an infi eld single before Seager ripped one over the wall in left fi eld for a three-run homer.

The Rays struck back in the third off Mariners starter Blake Beavan, also via the long ball. After lumbering catcher Jose Molina reached on an infi eld single, Sean Rodriguez

hit a two-run homer to left-center.The Rays added two more in the fourth off

Beavan to take the lead.The Mariners tied it in the sixth, again via a

Seager long ball off Shields.Rays outfi elder Luke Scott had a weird

result in the sixth inning, one that may show up on highlight reels for a while. He hit a drive to center that sent Saunders back to the wall. He made a leaping attempt, only to have the ball glance off his glove and over the fence. That gave the Rays the lead to stay.

M’S FALL TO RAYS ON TIPPED HOMER

AP photo

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki reacts after striking out in the third inning against Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher James Shields in the Mariners’ 5-4 loss Wednesday.

Rays 5,Mariners 4Wednesday

Next: at Tampa BayToday, 10 a.m.

TV: ROOT

shoulder on May 15.Trevor Stewart was another player who

played through pain — just after being cleared from a broken shoulder, he played the fi nal three games of the year with a broken foot.

If anything aff ected the Wild, though, it was the news that former player Chris Rumble had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia just a day before the playoff s started. Becanic said the team was very close with Rumble, an avid fi lmmaker who worked in the Wild’s front offi ce during the season making videos and helping run the team’s web site, and it had to push through the emotions early on in the

postseason.“We didn’t play our best in the last series,

but I think (considering) all we were facing... that’s why I’m so proud of them,” Becanic said.

Nichols commits, named All-Division

Wild goalie Robert Nichols announced he has committed to play for the University of Connecticut for the 2013-14 season on Wednesday, the same day he was named to the NAHL All-West Division team.

The Dallas native, who was also named to the NAHL All-Rookie second team on Tuesday, had a 24-6 record during the regular season and led the NAHL in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts.

He joins teammates Kyle Huson and Shawn Pauly as UConn commits, and is the ninth player on the Wild’s active roster to commit to a Division I team this year.

WildFrom Page B1

BY JOSHUA MAYERS

The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid had hopes his forward pairing of Fredy Montero and Eddie Johnson could emerge as the best in MLS by the end of the season.

Why wait?Each had a goal —

Montero’s in spectacular fashion — as Seattle dominated a weakened Los Angeles Galaxy with a 2-0 victory Wednesday at CenturyLink Field. It was the fi rst time since 2009 the Sounders had beaten Los Angeles in a league game, ending a woeful 0-5-1 run against the MLS Cup champions of last year.

The victory kept Seattle (5-1-1) on a franchise-best start to the season and the home side opened the scoring when Johnson headed in a fi ne cross from captain Mauro Rosales in the 40th minute.

It was the second winning goal in as many games for Johnson, as it would be all the Sounders would need. Immediately

afterward, chants of “Ed-die John-son!” rang throughout the stadium crowd of 39,002.

Seattle got insurance from Montero, who was painstakingly close to scoring earlier in the game were it not for some tremendous saves by Galaxy goalkeeper Bill Gaudette.

Montero left no doubt about his scoring intentions in the 48th minute, slamming home a stunning 35-yard drive past a helpless Gaudette in the top corner of the goal.

The highlight reel-worthy blast ended his 1,083-minute scoreless drought over all competitions dating to last season.

Montero’s last goal came Oct. 18 in a CONCACAF Champions League game against Mexico’s Monterrey. Only a 1,290-minute drought that ended last year had been longer for the forward, the Sounders’ leading scorer the past three years.

Seattle’s vaunted defense held on for the fourth shutout of the year as Los Angeles pushed bodies forward late in the game. Backup goalkeeper Bryan Meredith was forced into his fi rst action to preserve the clean sheet after starter Michael Gspurning came out at halftime with a right hip injury.

FORWARD DUO LEADS SOUNDERS PAST L.A.

AP photo

Seattle Sounders’ Eddie Johnson, left, is congratulated by Jhon Kennedy Hurtado after scoring against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the fi rst half of the Sounders’ 2-0 win Wednesday.

Sounders 2, Galaxy 0

WednesdayNext: vs. PhiladelphiaSaturday, 1:30 p.m.

TV: NBC Sports

Fredy MonteroSounders forward

NBA/NHL playoff roundup

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Marian Gaborik scored at 14:41 of the third overtime, and the New York Rangers outlasted the Washington Capitals in a 2-1 victory early Thursday morning to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifi nals.

Brad Richards was near the backboards before sending a pass in front to Gaborik, who ended the marathon by sliding the puck between the pads of goaltender Braden Holtby.

Nashville 2, Phoenix 0Pekka Rinne made 32 saves, Mike Fisher

scored his fi rst goal of the playoff s, and the

Nashville Predators got their fi rst win over the Coyotes in Game 3 of the series.

NBA PlayoffsMemphis 105, L.A. Clippers 98

O.J. Mayo scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and the Grizzlies bounced back to beat Clippers and tie the series at 1-1.

Indiana 97, Orlando 74The Pacers took a 2-1 advantage as Danny

Granger had 26 points and nine rebounds.San Antonio 114, Utah 83

Tony Parker scored 18 points and the San Antonio Spurs took a 2-0 series lead.

Rangers take 2-1 lead on Capitals

they’ve proven themselves. But we’re looking forward to Friday’s (games) as much as any other game. If we can defl ect the idea that Cashmere is the class of the league and maybe the class of the state and realize that baseball is a special game because anything can happen, we’ll work our tails off and look to give them a run, and in the end, you never know.”

Cashmere coach Jeff Carlson said his

players certainly aren’t looking past the Kodiaks.

“I’m not real surprised (that they’ve been successful),” Carlson said. “Coach Kelly does a great job with them. They have a real young core, good young arms, and they don’t make mistakes defensively. We’re expecting a good, competitive doubleheader. I know our kids are fi red up about it because the league title is one the line, and we’re anxious to send our seniors off (in their last regular-season home games). We’ll be ready to go. We’re defi nitely not overlooking those guys.”

Doug Flanagan: 661-5202fl anagan@wenatcheeworld.com

ShowdownFrom Page B1

place fi nishes against Wenatchee, including a few instances where mere hundredths of a second separated a Blue Devil and a fourth-place Panther.

In a scoring structure where fi ve points go to the champion, three to second place and one to third, those are big swings.

“We had Jack Dunley run a PR in the 800 and be two hundredths out of third,” Bullis said. “We also didn’t have a 6-4 high jumper (Killion McGinnis) today because he’s hurt.”

McGinnis was out after aggravating a stress fracture in his shin, and is questionable for the rest of the season.

Walla Walla’s Brian Seekamp won the high jump with a 5-10, which McGinnis has eclipsed in four straight meets.

To Boersma and Smith’s credit, each of them put the hammer down in the rest of their respective races.

Boersma won the 400 and led the winning 4x400 relay, and Smith won the 3200 by 20 seconds.

“If they had come in and jogged a 4:30 mile, I would have been upset,” Bullis said. “But it was a fast race. They went out a little easy and tried to hold it, but the Wolpert kid didn’t let them go. They just didn’t anticipate him having that much left at the end.”

Elsewhere for Wenatchee, Christie Adams had a big day for the Panther girls, which went 1-2 Wednesday to wrap up the regular season.

Adams won the 100 and 200-meter dashes, and co-authored a huge comeback by the 4x400 relay along with Nicole Dorsey.

Audrey Ketcham won the 100 hurdles, the long jump and the high jump, and Dorsey captured the 300 hurdles.

“I feel good, but I’m just waiting to peak,” Adams said. “I’ve been running about the same times for a while.”

For the boys, Jake Scroggie won the triple jump, Blake Aguilar took the javelin and Conner Faulkner captured the pole vault.

Isaiah Brandt-Sims won the 100 and 200-meter dashes going away, and ran on both victorious relays.

“I felt all right considering the windy conditions,” Brandt-Sims said. “Our times are dropping and we’re ready for the postseason.”

WHSFrom Page B1

SportsB2 The Wenatchee WorldThursday, May 3, 2012

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