AP-NW–Sports Right Now/721
BBA–ASTROS-MARINERS
Seth Smith’s two HR, 4 RBI help Seattle beat Astros 7-3
SEATTLE (AP) — Seth Smith hit a pair of home runs and drove in four to back up a solid outing by Ariel Miranda and the Seattle Mariners remained in the thick of the congested wild-card race with a 7-3 victory over the Houston Astros Sunday.
The Mariners (79-70) are tied with Detroit (79-70), which beat Cleveland 9-5. Seattle came into the day trailing Toronto, which holds the second wild card spot, by two games.
Smith had a solo shot in the third and a three-run blast in the fourth, both on 3-1 pitches from Doug Fister (12-12). He now has 16 home runs on the season, one short of his career high.
Miranda (5-1), acquired in a trade with Baltimore on July 31 for LH Wade Miley, went seven innings — his longest outing in 10 starts with Seattle — allowing two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out eight.
SKY-STORM
Stewart, Storm clinch 7th seed in WNBA playoffs
SEATTLE (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored 18 points, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 16 and the Seattle Storm clinched the seventh seed in the WNBA playoffs with an 88-75 victory over the Chicago Sky on Sunday night.
Seattle will play at Atlanta in the opening round of the playoffs. Stewart also grabbed 11 rebounds, including her 277th defensive one of the season to pass Lisa Leslie’s WNBA record of 276 set in 2004.
The Storm had just a 63-61 lead at the end of the third after Allie Quigley hit Chicago’s first 3-pointer of the game with 1.3 seconds left in the quarter. But Mosqueda-Lewis made back-to-back 3-pointers and Stewart added another 3 as Seattle opened the fourth on a 16-2 run to take a 79-63 lead much to the delight of the 12,186 fans. Chicago only scored six points through the first eight minutes of the fourth.
Sue Bird had 14 points and five assists for Seattle (16-18). The Storm needed to win to secure the seed after Phoenix beat the San Antonio Stars earlier. The Mercury will be the Number 8 seed.
SEAHAWKS-RAMS
Rams beat Seahawks 9-3 on Zuerlein’s leg in NFL return to LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Greg Zuerlein kicked three field goals — the longest a 47-yarder in the fourth quarter — and the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks 9-3 on Sunday. The home team’s win marked the return of pro football to the nation’s second-largest market for the first time in nearly 22 years.
Plenty of penalties slowed down the game for the announced crowd of 91,046 on a searing day at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Rams marked the long-awaited occasion by wearing blue-and-gold throwback uniforms for their regular-season home debut.
Alec Ogletree recovered a fumble by Christine Michael, who caught a short pass from Russell Wilson, at the Los Angeles 29 with 57 seconds left in the game, ending the Seahawks’ last scoring bid.
Seattle racked up 10 penalties for 114 yards; the Rams had nine penalties for 78 yards.
Seattle’s Russell Wilson was 22 of 35 for 254 yards, getting sacked twice. He had sprained his right ankle in last week’s win over Miami.
TITANS-MARIOTA
Former Duck Mariota rallies Tennessee to 16-15 win
DETROIT (AP) — Marcus Mariota moved the Tennessee Titans down the field like a savvy veteran, not a second-year pro, and completed all nine of his throws to complete a comeback a week after his turnovers hurt his team’s shot to win.
Mariota converted a fourth down with a perfectly lofted 9-yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson with 1:13 left, lifting the Titans to a 16-15 win at the Detroit Lions Sunday.
A week ago, Mariota had two turnovers that led to Tennessee losing a 10-point lead in a 25-16 loss to Minnesota and proved he could bounce back.
The Titans (1-1) ended a five-game losing streak, dating to last December, after Mariota threw two TD passes in the fourth quarter after trailing 15-3.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press
