AP-NW–Sports Right Now/632
THUNDER-TRAIL BLAZERS
Trail Blazers defeat Thunder 120-115, clinch playoff berth
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Al-Farouq Aminu scored 27 points, C.J. McCollum had 26 and the Portland Trail Blazers clinched a playoff berth with a 120-115 win over the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Allen Crabbe hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for Portland as six Blazers scored in double figures. Portland (43-37) won for the fifth time in six games and became the first team in NBA history to earn a playoff berth while returning a roster that had two or fewer players with 1,000 or more minutes from the previous season (Damian Lillard, Chris Kaman).
Enes Kanter had a career-high 33 points and 20 rebounds for the Thunder, and Dion Waiters had 25 points.
Oklahoma City, which clinched the West’s No. 3 seed with Tuesday’s win at Denver, rested four starters, including All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
MARINERS-RANGERS
Cano homers twice, Mariners rally in 9th to win 9-5 at Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Robinson Cano homered twice and drove in five runs, including a two-run homer that capped Seattle’s five-run ninth, as the Mariners rallied for a 9-5 victory at the Texas Rangers on Wednesday in the finale of a three-game opening series.
Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson (0-1) allowed all five batters he faced to reach base and score.
Pinch-hitter Nori Aoki and No. 9 batter Ketel Marte started the ninth with consecutive singles, and Leonys Martin had a tying RBI double. Kyle Seager then had a two-run single before Cano’s fourth homer chased Tolleson.
Cano has homered in all three games for Seattle and is the first Mariners player ever with four homers in the first three games of the season. He had 21 homers last season, and his fourth didn’t come until his 71st game on June 26.
Joaquin Benoit (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth.
ROCKIES-DIAMONDBACKS
Amazing Story: rookie makes history with another HR
PHOENIX (AP) — Rookie Trevor Story made baseball history by hitting a home run in each of his first three major league games and the Colorado Rockies beat Arizona 4-3 on Wednesday.
Story also is the first player in baseball history to hit a home run for each of his first four hits.
Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood (1-0) pitched a strong 6 1-3 innings in his first big-league appearance since recovering from a second Tommy John surgery.
Story’s two-run homer off Patrick Corbin in the first inning gave him four for the season. DJ LeMahieu and Ryan Raburn also homered for the Rockies, who hit 10 home runs in the series, nine of them against Arizona starters. The Rockies took two of three from the Diamondbacks.
CANUCKS-OILERS
Oilers rout Canucks 6-2 in final game at Rexall Place
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Patrick Maroon scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers won at Rexall Place for the final time, beating the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Wednesday.
Nail Yakupov, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Taylor Hall also scored for the Oilers, who snapped a three-game losing skid.
Matt Bartkowski and Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks, who had their three-game winning end.
It was the final NHL game scheduled to be played at Rexall, with the Oilers moving into a new downtown arena in the fall.
The Oilers have played in the building since 1974 when they were in the World Hockey Association.
More than 150 Oilers alumni were on hand for the farewell game and lengthy postgame ceremony, including the likes of Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
