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ByJimmyGolen TheAssociatedPress BOSTON Hours before his for- mer New England Patriots team- mates were due to visitthe White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory, prison officials say, Aaron Hernandez tied one end of his bedsheet to a window and the other around his neck and hanged himself. In a maximum-security prison outside Boston, about an hour fromthestadiumwhereheplayed alongside stars like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowsi, Hernandez jammed the door to his one-man cell lest guards try to stop him and put an early end to the life- without-parole sentence he re- ceived for a 2013 murder. He was 27. It was the last act in the down- fallofanathletewhoonceseemed to have everything, including a five-year $40 million contract extension, and threw it all away. The former NFL star's death left friends, family and his le- gal team shocked and in disbe- lief,searchingforan explanation. Just last Friday, Hernandez was acquitted in a separate murder case. "There were no conversations or correspondence from Aaron to his family or legal team that would have indicated anything like this was possible," said his attorney, Jose Baez. "Aaron was looking forward to an opportu- nity for a second chance to prove his innocence. Those who love and care about him are heartbro- ken and determined to find the truth surrounding his untimely death." Guards found Hernandez shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Shirley, Cor- rection Department spokesman Christopher Fallon said. The for- mer tight end was taken to a hos- pital and pronounced dead about an hour later. NFL Ex-NFLstarAaronHernandezhangshimself By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group KANSAS CITY It does not count as retribution to beat Madison Bumgarner in April. It counts less when you score once on him in six innings, and only because the left- hander with the lumberjack beard forgot to cover first base. AndmaybetheKansasCityRoy- als didn't need to hang a loss on a pitcher who bossed them in the 2014 World Series. Putting finger- prints on the flag-studded trophy the following season had a way of cauterizing that wound. If anyone is wounded now, it is the Giants. Their offense was life- less in a 2-0 loss at Kauffman Sta- diumWednesdaynight.AaronHill was their leadoff hitter and left fielder, and even he had to be be- wildered to find himself there. They are keeping an open mind in left field because, well, despera- tion has a way of opening the play- book. Atleastleft-handerJasonVargas entered with am 0.66 ERA in two starts, so the Giants aren't the only major league lineup he has mysti- fied this season. Vargas struck out nine and walked none. For the sea- son, he has 23 strikeouts and just two walks in 20 2/3 innings. But the Giants barely threat- ened against him. They'll try to find some offensive cohesion at high altitude in Coors Field when their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies begins on Friday. And they'll try to figure out how to win behind their ace. They fell to 0-4 in Bumgarner's starts even though the left-hander yielded one run in six laboring but effective in- nings. Theyhavescoredjustthreeruns duringhisstartswhileheremained in the game. And lest you forget, Bumgarner accounted for two of those runs with his home runs in the season opener. In the fifth, Mike Moustakas hit a hard ground ball to first base and Bumgarner did not im- mediately break to cover the bag. Brandon Belt kept it in front of him but he didn't field it cleanly, which required a throw to a dash- ing Bumgarner. His tag attempt wasn't in time. Moustakas slid into the base as the inning continued and Paulo Orlando scored. The Royals added a run in the eighthagainstright-handerGeorge Kontos when Eric Hosmer dou- bled and scored on Salavador Per- ez's single. By Martin Gallegos Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Khris Davis is no stranger to home runs. He blasted 42 of them last season for the A's. But a home run in Wednesday's 9-1 blowout over the Texas Rangers added Davis to an exclusive club in Oakland history. Davis joined Jason Giambi, Jer- maine Dye and Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit seven home runs in the club's first 15 games. The history-making came in the fifth in- ning when crushed a two-run home run off reliever Mike Hauschild to extend Oakland's lead to 6-1. The two-run shot was his seventh of the year and tied Davis with Houston's George Springer and Milwaukee's Eric Thames for the major league lead. Like most of his home runs, it was a mammoth opposite-field shot that traveled more than 400 feet and landed in the bleachers in right-cen- ter. "You think you're done being sur- prised by him and then he hits a ball like that today where only powerful left-handers hit them," manager Bob Melvin said. "It shouldn't surprise me but you still kind kind of mar- vel at something like that." While the power is something that no longer surprises his team- mates or his manager, it's his overall approach at the plate that has been a pleasant surprise. Davis' two hits rose his batting average to a team- leading .321. "He's special," first baseman Yon- der Alonso said. "You can see how he's matured as a hitter. He's more patient now but when it's time to swing, he lets it go. We all under- stand how hard it is to hit a base- ball and he does it well." The A's don't do much scor- ing early in games. They had only MLB A'S SCORE EARLY AND OFTEN, BEAT RANGERS ARICCRABB—BAYAREANEWSGROUP A's batter Khris Davis hits a two-run home run in the fi h inning against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday in Oakland The A's beat the Rangers 9-1. JEFF CHIU – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A's Trevor Plouffe, le , and Rajai Davis celebrate a er the team's win against the Texas Rangers in Oakland on Wednesday. A'S PAGE 3 MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones, bottom, makes a stop next to teammate Paul Martin and Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins during the second period in Game 4on Tuesday in San Jose. By Paul Gackle Bay Area News Group SAN JOSE Over the last decade, Sharks hockey has been synony- mous with high-end skill, tic-tac- toe plays and a lot of offense. But the Sharks are finding suc- cess under a different formula this season, and with Joe Thorn- ton and Logan Couture battling injuries, it's allowed them to hang in their first round Stanley Cup playoffs series with the Edmonton Oilers, which is tied at 2-2 head- ing into Thursday's Game 5. "When I got here over a year ago, I really felt that this was a team that talked a lot about of- fense, talked a lot about power play, and as we've seen, that stuff can go cold on you," head coach Pete DeBoer said. "I really felt that if we put a defensive founda- tion into our game that we'd be able to survive guys in and out of the lineup or dry spells or power plays going cold — that's given us a chance." The Sharks defense-first iden- tity is certainly giving the team a chance to advance past the Oil- ers even though they entered the series with their top two centers hobbled by injuries, the power play went 1-for-14 over the first three games and the offense got shutout in Game 2 and Game 3. As the series moves back to Ed- monton, the high-flying Oilers, who ranked eighth in goals per game (2.96) this season, are find- ing out just how stingy the Sharks team defense can be when it's on top of its team game. The Oilers are averaging just 1.25 goals per game in the se- ries, they've scored only twice in even strength situations and the league's top point producer dur- ing the regular season, Connor McDavid, has yet to record a point in five-on-five play. McDavid's inability to gener- ate offense in even strength sit- uations is a reflection of the five- man approach that the Sharks are taking to defend him. "To contain a guy like that is pretty tough to do," Couture said, referring to McDavid, who earned a point in 41.2 percent of the Oil- ers goals this season. NHL PLAYOFFS Sharksshowingnewidentity MLB SF offense lifeless in loss to KC JAMIE SQUIRE – GETTY IMAGES The Giants fell to 0-4in Madison Bumgarner's starts. SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, April 20, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1