Red Bluff Daily News

April 21, 2017

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ByJeffLarson jlarson@paradisepost.com @jtlarson on Twitter PARADISE One-hitters do not happen very often and invari- ably lead to victories on the baseball diamond. But a loss can occur, which is exactly what happened Thurs- day afternoon to Corning High's Devin Wunsch. The se- nior lefty fired a one-hit com- plete-game littered with five strikeouts, but suffered the loss after a pair of unearned first-inning runs helped Para- dise pull out the 2-1 win over Corning in the opener of a two- game Westside League series at Paradise's Walt Newman Field. Corning and Paradise will meet again at 4 p.m. Friday to conclude the series. "(Devin) kept his head up the whole time and threw strikes," Corning coach Tom Tomlinson said. "If you can do that at this level you're usually going to be pretty successful." Wunsch's counterpart on the mound, Paradise's Frankie Cleary was at least equally as dominant, going the distance and striking out a season-high 10 Cardinals to improve to 4-1 on the year. "First two (innings) we're pretty much blown away (by Cleary), but we made adjust- ments and did good," Tomlin- son said. PREP BASEBALL WUNSCH'SONE-HITTER FALLS SHORT AT PARADISE Teams conclude series today in Corning Paradise'sFrankieClearystruckoutaseason-high10battersinhis complete-game 2-1victory Thursday against Corning. PHOTOS BY RICK SILVA — PARADISE POST. Corning High sophomore Bryce Armstrong went 2-for-3and broke up Frankie Cleary's perfect game in the fourth, but the Bobcats pulled out the victory, 2-1to kick off a two-game home-and-home league series Thursday a ernoon in Paradise. Paradise2,Corning1 Up next: Bobcats at Corning, 4p.m. Friday THESCORE By Carl Steward Bay Area News Group OAKLAND By halftime of Game 2, the Warriors' trio of role-play- ing centers had combined to make 10 of 11 shots against the undersized Portland Trail Blaz- ers, an almost ridiculous 90.9 percent conversion rate. JaVale McGee was 6 for 6, Zaza Pachulia was 3 for 3, and shame on him for missing one, but David West was 2 for 3. And the rest of the team on Wednes- day night? Just 13 of 37, barely 35 percent. Yet the Warriors led by nine at the break largely be- cause of the astounding effi- ciency of their diverse big men. This isn't the way the War- riors were supposed to begin their roll through the NBA play- offs, but it's a development that will only serve to make the War- riors that much more daunting as they move forward in the postseason. As a group, McGee, Pachulia and West have made themselves bona fide centers of attention, not just big men tak- ing up space in the paint. Obviously, all three do dra- matically different things. As coach Steve Kerr put it this week, "Zaza's a screener and a banger, JaVale's a leaper, runner and a lob guy, David's a savvy, skilled veteran. They just give us dramatically different looks, and as an opponent, you have to know whatyou'regettingwitheachguy." Portland, playing without 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic so far, hasn't gotten it. Warriors cen- ters combined for 33 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and four assists in Game 2, and that's an uncommonly productive three- headed beast on the block. It was a huge improvement from the Game 1 aggregate, which was certainly decent enough: 16 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and four assists. WARRIORS Trio of bigs gives Blazers one massive headache By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group KANSAS CITY The Giants have a glaring need in their lineup and their top hitting prospect, Chris- tian Arroyo, is hitting .442 in his first 11 games for Triple-A Sacra- mento. For some, the dots couldn't be easier to con- nect. For Giants GM Bobby Evans, there is more that goes into the deci- sion to bring Ar- royo to the big leagues. Evans acknowledged that Ar- royo's performance could speed up his development timetable, which called for most if not all of a season in the Pacific Coast League. But he also said that the organization wouldn't make a rash decision about the 21-year- old prospect based on a current need. Bringing up Arroyo now? That could be a rash decision. "I'm not saying that Arroyo is not ready. I'm not going in that direction," Evans said. "I'm just saying you want him to push you to make that decision. What he's done so far is a great beginning to that, but we're only two weeks in." Arroyo hit three home runs all last season for Double-A Rich- mond. He already has two hom- ers in 43 at-bats for Sacramento, including an opposite-field shot Tuesday night. He leads the league in average and on-base percentage (.478) But he has split time between second base, third base and shortstop, with no current plan to take fly balls in left field. The Giants could move third base- man Eduardo Nuñez to left field to open up third for Arroyo, but they have not studied that possi- bility in earnest yet. Right now, the Giants don't know what they'll do in left field now that Jarrett Parker will miss at least two months because of a fractured collarbone. "We're staying open minded on left field right now," Evans said. "With the loss of Parker, it does create the need to rethink a little how we're going to go forward." What if Arroyo keeps on hit- ting near his current pace? Could he force the issue? "You want any change of them plan to be a direct result of his performance and not a result of our need," Evans said. "I want his performance to dictate that more than what's happening here. But yeah, his performance can change the timing. I want to think about what's best for him, and if he can push himself up here, that's a good thing." Arroyo is different than, say, a Kelby Tomlinson who is on the roster as a role player. The Giants have more of a long-term strat- egy with Arroyo, because they see him as a potential long-term asset. "What you really want to see is sustained success," Evans said. GIANTS SF keeps options open in le field THEARON W. HENDERSON — GETTY IMAGES The Raiders exercised Khalil Mack's fi h-year contract option to make sure he's around through at least 2018. Bay Area News Group Five prime time games, includ- ing a Sunday night showdown at the Coliseum with the Dallas Cowboys, highlight the Raiders' 2017 schedule that was unveiled Thursday. The five prime time games — which includes three appear- ances on Sunday Night Football — would be a franchise record so long as the Raiders aren't flexed out of any of the Sunday night ap- pearances. Along with a Dec. 17 showdown against the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders have road Sunday night games on Sept. 24 against Wash- ington and Nov. 5 against the Mi- ami Dolphins. The Raiders' one Monday Night Football appearance comes on Christmas Day when they travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles. They also have the standard Thursday Night Football game Oct. 19 at home against the Kan- sas City Chiefs. The season will open on the road for the second straight year when they face the Tennessee Ti- tans on Sept. 10. The Raiders will look to win in Nashville for the third straight season. The home opener at the Coli- seum comes a week later on Sept. 17 against the New York Jets, be- fore they hit the road against Washington — their first game in Landover, Mary., since 2005. The Raiders are on the road again a week later playing the Denver Broncos, giving them three out of four away from home to start the year for the second straight season. That means that unless the Oakland A's make the playoffs, the Raiders will have just one regular season game playing on the infield dirt at the Coliseum. The reward for that road-heavy start is a stretch of three straight home games beginning Oct. 8 against Baltimore. They host the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 15 before the quick turnaround for the Thursday night game against Kansas City. RAIDERS/49ERS 2017NFLschedulesreleased Oakland will be in Philadelphia on Christmas, also play in Mexico City NFL PAGE 2 Arroyo WARRIORS PAGE 2 BASEBALL PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, April 21, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1

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