RANGERS-MARINERS
Seager, Lee power Mariners past Texas 6-3
SEATTLE (AP) — Kyle Seager hit a two-run homer and Dae-Ho Lee added a solo shot to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 6-3 victory over Texas on Thursday night, the Rangers’ fourth loss in five games.
Taijuan Walker (5-10), who lasted just two-thirds of an inning in his previous start, shook off two game-opening walks to finish five innings, giving up three runs and seven hits to win for the first time in six starts.
Evan Scribner and Nick Vincent combined for three scoreless innings and rookie Edwin Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Derek Holland (7-7) allowed four runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out five. Despite the loss, Texas still leads the AL West by 8 1/2 games.
Seager’s home run off Jake Diekman, his career-high 27th, put the Mariners up 6-3 in the seventh.
ANTHEM-BRONCOS LINEBACKER
Denver LB Brandon Marshall takes a knee during anthem
DENVER (AP) — Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, a college teammate of Colin Kaepernick, took to a knee during the playing of the national anthem before Denver’s season opener against Carolina.
Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem during San Francisco’s preseason games , explaining it was to protest racial oppression and police brutality in the United States.
It opened a wide debate and put the microscope on a pregame tradition that has, for decades, been routine.
Marshall was standing with his hand over his heart during the anthem before a preseason game on August 20th.
He made no mention of his plans for Thursday’s opener but shortly after the large American flag was unfurled, the fifth-year linebacker out of Nevada went to the end of a long row of Broncos and took a knee.
SEAHAWKS-ANTHEM
Seahawks plan ‘demonstration of unity’ before opener
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin tweeted Thursday that the team “will honor the country and flag” in a “demonstration of unity” prior to Sunday’s season opener against Miami.
When approached in the locker room by reporters, Baldwin declined to elaborate further saying, “you’ll see on Sunday.”
Former Green Beret and one-time Seahawks long-snapper Nate Boyer later tweeted that he had spoken with the Seahawks players about their plans and wrote, “what the team will do is a powerful sign of unification + respect for the Anthem + those that fight for our Freedom!”
T25-OREGON-NELSON
Ducks’ Nelson transitions back to offense, looks to improve
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Coach Mark Helfrich certainly wasn’t concerned about Charles Nelson’s missteps in Oregon’s opener, joking that he’d bet his mortgage on the receiver and special teams standout.
Nelson had 288 all-purpose yards for the Number 24 Ducks in the season opener as he transitions back from the defense to the offense. He chalked up a pair of fumbles to first-game jitters.
“For me, and for everybody in here, the coaches just talk about playing the next play, that’s what I try to do: Just brush it off and play the next play,” he said.
Nelson certainly has plenty more plays to focus on this season, starting Saturday night when Oregon (1-0) hosts Virginia (0-1).
Of his overall yards in the 53-28 victory over UC Davis last weekend, 251 came on returns. Nelson averaged 38.3 yards on kickoff returns and 24.5 yards on punt returns.
WASHINGTON ST-BOISE ST PREVIEW
Washington State returns to “The Blue” to face Boise State
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Brett Rypien grew up in a crimson family 90 minutes north of the Washington State campus where his uncle Mark is immortalized in the school’s athletic hall of fame as part of the great lineage of Cougars quarterbacks.
Rypien was a record-setting prep quarterback at the same high school where his uncle was a star, and the choice of where he played collegiately was based on where he wanted to go, not who came to find him. Going to Washington State was not what Rypien wanted, however.
He didn’t want to always face the comparisons to what his uncle did at the school three decades ago. He wanted his own college experience.
So when Rypien finally chose to play at Boise State, he avoided the endless comparisons to his uncle. But he was also stepping into a different kind of shadow.
“It let me step out of Mark’s shadow and into Kellen Moore’s,” Rypien joked this week.
All kidding aside, there will be strife in the Rypien family this weekend when Washington State travels to face Boise State. What was initially supposed to be the marquee non-conference opportunity for Boise State this season is now also a seemingly must-win game for the Cougars after they got stunned at home by Eastern Washington on the opening weekend.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
