Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • B3

TUESDAY JUNE 15 2021 FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM 1 3B Teoscar Hernandez hit a pair of three-run homers over the Green Monster two of eight longballs as the Blue Jays routed the host Boston Red Sox 18-4 on Sunday. Vladimir Guerrero Bo Bichette, Lourdes Gur- riel Cavan Biggio, Rowdy Tellez and Marcus Semien also went deep for the Blue Jays, a day after they had five homers in a 7-2 victory. Guerrero leads the major leagues with 21 homers. The eight home runs were the most ever al- lowed in a game by the Red Sox. Bichette had four of season-high 20 hits.

The Jays also reached a season high for runs. Braves 6, Marlins 4: Drew Smyly (3-3) allowed two runs over five innings on his 32nd birthday to help Atlanta stop a four-game slide in Miami. Nationals 5, Giants 0: Kyle Schwarber became the sixth player in the history of the franchise to homer in both the first and second innings, driv- ing in four runs. Phillies 7, Yankees 0: Aaron Nola (5-4) allowed three hits and struck out nine in innings, and host Philadelphia complet- ed a two-game sweep that moved the Phillies back over .500 at 32-31. Reds 6, Rockies 2: Euge- nio Suarez hit a two-run homer and host Cincinnati won for the 10th time in 13 games to move over .500 for the first time since it was 9-8.

Padres 7, Meta 3: Fernan- do Tatis Jr. hit a tiebreak- ing grand slam off Jacob Barnes in the seventh inning, his 19th homer this season as visiting San Diego stopped a four- game slide. Mariners 6, Indians 2: Jake Fraley homered off Shane Bieber (7-4) after replacing Mitch Haniger, who was helped from the field after bruising his left knee when he fouled off a pitch in the first inning. Rays 7, Orioles 1: Randy Arozarena hit his first career grand slam, host Tampa Bay handed Balti- more its 15th consecutive road loss, the worst road skid since it moved from St. Louis to Balti- more in 1954.

White Sox 4, Tigers 1: Carlos Rodon (6-2) took a no-hit bid into the seventh before Eric one- out double, and visiting Chicago completed a three-game sweep. Brewers 5, Pirates 2: Avisail Garcia hit a two- run homer and host Mil- waukee completed a three-game sweep to win for the 14th time in 16 games. Pittsburgh has lost seven straight. Astros 14, Twins chael Brantley had his second four-hit game of the series, and vsiting Houston had a season- high 20 hits. Dodgers 5, Rangers 3: Walker Buehler pitched six scoreless innings of five-hit ball to remain unbeaten since 2019, and Mookie Betts homered and scored three runs for host Los Angeles.

Athletics 6, Royals 3: Chris Bassitt escaped a scary line drive to win his seventh straight decision for host Oakland. Nicky liner glanced off right side for an RBI single, which left the pitcher face down in the grass with his arms spread for several moments. Bassitt regrouped and got Whit Merrifield on a called third strike with the bases loaded to end the second inning. Angels 10, Diamond- backs Stassi hit a two-run homer in the first and Los Angeles won its sixth straight game. Cubs 2, Cardinals 0: Zach Davies tossed two-hit ball into the seventh inning as host Chicago completed a three-game sweep.

MLB Blue Jays hit record 8 homers in Fenway STEVEN SENNE AP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had one of the Blue eight home runs against the Red Sox on Sunday in Boston. BONUS: Subscribers will find coverage of MLB games in the eEdition under the tab. tickets and track owner Bruton Smith kept adding more seats. More than 20 years later, 1.5-mile oval track is fine; the size of its stands that is outdated.

When it opened in 1996, the track could seat ap- proximately 160,000 and accommodate another 50,000 in the infield. About 10 years later, all of sports began to fight the trend of smaller attend- ance figures in facilities that were built for a differ- ent era. In 2013, the track removed all of its seats on the backstretch. It used the space for larger, more high end RV pads, and the slot for its giant video screen. In recent years, the grandstands that cover the frontstretch from Turn 4 to Turn 1 have been empty even for the signature NASCAR events.

The attendance for the Indy Car races at TMS have never come close to the NASCAR events. This IndyCar XPEL 375 on May 2 looked to have between 20,000 to 30,000. A crowd of 30,000 in a venue that seats 100,000 is a bad look. On Sunday night, TMS hosted All-Star race. The overhead shots from the blimp above the grandstands showed large sections of empty seats.

just more anecdotal evidence that while NAS- CAR is not dying, its pop- ularity is nowhere near what it was in the mid- It has successfully expanded well beyond its southeast roots, but has returned to its niche stat- us. On Sunday night, Fox Sports had the broadcast rights to both the NAS- CAR All-Star race and Westminster Dog Show, and its main priority were the pups. Fox put the dog show on its main network, and the NASCAR race on Fox Sports 1. What has happened at TMS has occurred at every NASCAR track in the U.S., including Daytona International Speedway. With the sports world rapidly changing, along with the challenge of lur- ing people to leave their living rooms to watch a basketball game in an arena or a movie in a thea- ter becoming increasingly harder, large venues all over the U.S.

are taking out seats. Fans want a seat close to the action. They want a comfortable seat. If they get either, they will only go if the seat is inexpensive. The TMS suites will undergo some type of update as well.

TMS would like to turn more of the suites into a type of a feel. The irony is that NAS- CAR is moving back in the direction of the roots it mostly abandoned when it lustily chased the cash and went to the larger speed- ways that were built all over the U.S. NASCAR is no longer just a southeast sport, but it is evolving back in the direction of the seating capacity of the venues that it left, most notably places like North Wilkesboro, N.C. In the NASCAR left almost all of the char- ming venues that gave the sport its character, including North Wilkesboro Speedway. That knock on the facility was that it was because its capac- ity was 40,000.

Today, a venue that sells out may be quite appealing. Texas Motor Speedway wants to be smaller, but not that small. Mac Engel: 817-390-7760, MacEngelProf FROM PAGE 1B ENGEL TONY GUTIERREZ AP With attendance down at Texas Motor Speedway for its NASCAR races, including for Sunday All-Star race, the facility plans to downsize the number of seats as part of its makeover. rounds. The No.

5 driver lined up behind leader Chase Elliott for the last restart of the 10-lap shootout that closed the race. When the green flag waved, Larson drove high to pass Elliott on the out- side, as Brad Keselowski took the low line to run into second place. Larson led the final laps and held off Keselowski by 0.2 seconds at the flag. was a little slick up there but I was able to get it and hold him off from Larson said. believe Elliott was another favorite to win the race and led 12 laps behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron (30 laps led), as well as Larson (18) and Team Penske driver Ryan Bla- ney (15).

Blaney also start- ed in the top-four for the final restart, but finished behind his teammates Keselowski in second and Joey Logano, who finished fourth. Elliott finished third. got to my outside and that was the end of it Elliott said. got While the Penske cars delivered a strong show- ing at the 1.5-mile track, it was yet another dominant night for Hendrick Motor- sports, which has won the past five races. Keselowski said that he considered running second to a Hen- drick car an accomplish- ment.

are just stupid Keselowski said. had (Larson) off Turn 4, but they just have so much speed. He just mo- tored right back by me, like Daniels said rate his execution of his strategy a since the car was built for getting clean air, but the format of the race featured in- versions, meaning Larson was sent to the back early to battle through traffic. had to be able to Daniels said of the strategy with the inver- sion. it took us a little while to get our car where it could do Daniels noted the mix in the and offer any sugges- tions for the format change.

Hendrick Motor- sports competition direc- tor Jeff Andrews offered his perspective on NAS- change to reduced horsepower for the race. NASCAR utilized a 510 horsepower package in- stead of its typical 550 horsepower package with the goal of bunching the field together and in- creasing drafting. The move has been met with criticism by some, but Andrews said he thought that it was a from a competition and fan perspective. think it produced the intent of what the reduc- tion in power was in- tended to Andrews said. looked very com- petitive on the racetrack I thought the restarts were great, and there were some real opportuni- ties to kind of jumble some things up on the restarts, depending on the side draft you got and who your partner was pushing NASCAR will continue to deliberate on the pack- age as well as the location for the non-points event.

The All-Star Race has been held at two different tracks over the past two years in a switch from its traditional home at Char- lotte Motor Speedway. Last year, the race was held at Bristol due to the pandemic. This year, it was the sendoff event at Texas for Gossage, who will retire on July 1 after serving the speedway for more than 25 years. always believed that the All-Star Race should move around to different Larson said. of like how other sports, their All-Star games move to different venues.

see if something that they do. I think all of us drivers would love to see Gossage presented Larson with his trophy and million dollar check gonna save for and looked misty- eyed as the semi-full grandstands cheered on the night of Texas-sized theatrics and the promo- long career. A light show in the sky spelled out, you over the infield. Alexandra Andrejev: LARRY PAPKE AP Christopher Bell (20) spins coming out of Turn 2 in front of Austin Dillon (3) and Joey Logano (20) during the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. FROM PAGE 1B LARSON Rangers shortstop who was traded in February and had already lost his job to Kiner-Falefa.

Andrus had 32,432 votes, and Kiner-Falefa even beat that. But he ticked to be behind Andrus. Kiner- Falefa is ticked to not be in the top 10, and with good reason. Kiner-Falefa entered Monday leading all AL shortstops in hits (78) and stolen bases (15). His .294 average was third, and his 26 RBIs were fourth.

Defensively, only one AL shortstop (J.P. Craw- ford) has more defensive runs saved (8) than Kiner- Falefa (6). Fan voting is conducted online and via the MLB app. Phase 1 ends June 24, when the top three at each position (top nine out- fielders) advance to Phase 2, which from June 28-July 1. The rest of the team, pitchers included, is se- lected via a combination of player voting and input from the office.

Every team will have at least one player. The All-Star Game was canceled last season be- cause of COVID-19, and MLB moved this game from Atlanta to Denver as response to new voting laws in Georgia that critics say suppresses Black voters. Hunter Pence, Joey Gallo and Mike Minor were selected for the 2019 game, but only Gallo par- ticipated. He hit a home run in the seventh inning in the first All-Star at-bat of his career. The Rangers have, ar- guably, four solid All-Star candidates this season for the July 13 game at Coors Field Garcia, Kiner- Falefa, right-hander start- er Kyle Gibson and closer Ian Kennedy.

Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox is the top vote-getter at shortstop, followed by Bo Bichette (Toronto Blue Jays), Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox) and Carlos Correa (Houston Astros). Bo- gaerts leads by a large margin and seems like a shoo-in to be the starter, so Kiner-Falefa would have to fare better in play- er voting than Bichette and Anderson. not impossible, and his best path to the Midsummer Classic. In fan voting, Kiner- Falefa (and all other Rang- ers position players out- side of Garcia) have hit a dead end. Jeff Wilson: 817-390-7760, TONY GUTIERREZ AP file The Isiah Kiner-Falefa crack the top 10 in voting at shortstop in the first batch of results for the 2021 All-Star Game.

FROM PAGE 1B RANGERS AUSTIN, TEXAS Trey Faltine drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and CamWil- liams hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning after walking his first four times up and scoring three times as No. 2 overall seed Texas breezed into the College World Series with a 12-4 victory over South Florida on Sunday, sweep- ing the Austin Super Re- gional. The Bulls (31-30) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Jarrett Eaton's two-run bases-loaded single, but Jake Sullivan was thrown out at home trying to score from first on the play and the Longhorns (47-15) answered with four runs in the top of the sec- ond with Faltine and Silas Ardoin delivering run-scoring doubles to take the lead for good. Faltine's second double drove in two in the fourth to make it 6-2. Texas scored without the benefit of a hit in the fifth, using four walks and a hit batter to plate two runs.

Texas completes sweep of USF, earns CWS berth Associated Press NCAA BASEBALL.