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The Giants Community Fund will welcome more than 2,000 Junior Giants players and coaches to the ballpark Wednes- day, July 27 for the annual Ju- nior Giants Day. Junior Giants will participate in a pre-game parade around the field before watching the San Francisco Giants take on the Cincinnati Reds. During the pre-game cer- emony, Giants Hall of Famer Willie McCovey will recognize the Junior Giants "Willie Mac" award recipients for their out- standing contributions and par- ticipation throughout the sea- son. All winners will be recog- nized on the field and on the scoreboard. The event is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. with the Junior Gi- ants Parade and the awards will be presented around 12:20 p.m. at home plate at AT&T Park. The Junior Giants Willie Mac Award, named in honor of Gi- ants Hall of Famer Willie Mc- Covey, is the "junior" version of the annual award presented to a Major League Giants player as voted by his teammates and coaching staff. The award is presented to the Junior Giants players who best exemplify the Junior Giants Four Bases of Character Devel- opment: Confidence, Integrity, Leadership and Teamwork. This year the Giants Com- munity Fund will present Wil- lie Mac Awards to 83 members, including Sesario Servin of Los Molinos, Jason Kearney of Cot- tonwood, Parker Wilde of Ran- cho Tehama and Shane Casteel of Red Bluff. JUNIORGIANTS Mo re t ha n 2, 000 l oc al p la ye rs , coaches to be honored on field By Doug Ferguson TheAssociatedPress SPRINGFIELD, N.J. Rory McIl- roy took stock of his game and the shots required at Baltusrol and reached a most logical con- clusion Tuesday. He believes the PGA Championship will be his best chance this year to win a major. He overlooked the obvious. It now is his only chance this year to win a major. McIlroy is not alone. Except for the three players who have achieved the ultimate in golf this year by winning ma- jors — Danny Willett at the Mas- ters, Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and Henrik Stenson at the British Open — the PGA Cham- pionship is all they have left. The focus starts with McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. They began the year as the mod- ern version of the "Big Three" because they had captured five of the previous six majors and took turns at No. 1 in the world ranking. But they have come up empty in the majors — so far. Spieth is feeling it as much as anyone, mainly because he nearly won them all a year ago with a major performance that ranked among the best ever. So when a question was posed to him Tuesday that expecting 20 more years like that would prob- ably be a tough benchmark, Spi- eth leaned toward the micro- phone and interrupted. "Probably?" he said. Even with two victories and a chance at the Masters that he threw away with one bad swing at the wrong time, he has been noticeable in the last two majors by his absence from the leader- board. Spieth, who turns 23 on Wednesday, had contended in five straight majors. He finished 13 shots behind in the U.S. Open and 22 shots behind at the Brit- ish Open. "I set my own expectations so high," Spieth said. "So have I met them this year? Not yet." He still can. So can Day, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this year. Stenson's victory at Royal Troon surely gave hope to play- ers who have yet to win a ma- jor, from Sergio Garcia to Lee Westwood, from Rickie Fowler to Matt Kuchar. Baltusrol was soaked with nearly 2 inches of rain over- night, though the Lower Course was in remarkably good shape for a full day of practice on Tues- day in sweltering conditions that only add to the pressure of players trying to break through. McIlroy was especially opti- mistic given the length of Bal- tusrol, exceptionally long (7,462 yards) for a par 70 that doesn't have a par 5 until the final two holes. He is among the top power players in the game, and his driving is aesthetically beau- tiful because of his balance. That wasn't lost on McIlroy PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Baltusrol last chance for 2016 major for McIlroy, Spieth By Susan Kanode Contributed CHEYENNE,WYOMING ZekeThur- ston had a lot to smile about af- ter the third performance of the 120th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. Thurston, from Big Valley, Al- berta, took the lead in the first round of saddle bronc riding with an impressive 84-point ride on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo's horse named LuLu. Thurston is following in the footsteps of his father, Skeeter Thurston, who was the rookie sad- dle bronc riding champion here in 1982. Zeke Thurston qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) last year and is on pace for another trip to Las Vegas next December. He finished last season in 11th place and is hoping to improve that position this year. Like any other cowboy, getting to the NFR and earning a gold buckle is his ultimate goal. He is currently ranked 10th in the world stand- ings and needs to remain among the top 15 through the end of Sep- tember to earn his second NFR qualification. Thurston is coming off of one of the biggest wins of his ca- reer in his home country. Just over a week ago, he won the Cal- gary Stampede Rodeo and the $100,000 bonus that goes with it. Remarkably, this is the sec- ond time he has earned that ti- tle and while it doesn't count to- wards the world standings, it cer- tainly counts in his bank account. At 22, Thurston is in the early stages of his career. He is travel- ing with Taos Muncy, who won this rodeo in 2007 when he was just 20 years old. That same year, he went on to win his first of two world titles. Muncy, from Corona, N.M., was also successful here on Monday with a 77.5-point ride. He will need a good score here on Tuesday to have an opportunity to advance to the finals. On the other hand, Thurston will just need a solid effort to take the overall lead which is currently held by Ben Londo. Londo, from San Luis Obispo, Calif., took the lead in the overall standings with a total of 159.5 points on two head. He had his second round horse on Mon- day because he rode in the finals at the California Rodeo Salinas on Sunday when he was originally scheduled to compete here. Tyler Wallace is making a bid for his third consecutive NFR RODEO THURSTON IMPRESSES WITH HIS BRONC RIDE DANHUBBELL—CONTRIBUTED Canadian Zeke Thurston moved to the lead in the first round of saddle bronc riding at the 120th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo with an 84-point ride on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo's LuLu. By John Hickey Bay Area News Group ARLINGTON, TEXAS Sonny Gray wasn't completely his old self Tuesday, but he was closer than he's been in a while. The Oakland A's once and fu- ture ace threw six innings of Oak- land's 6-3 win over Texas and was completely dominant in five of them. He was stunned for five consecutive hits, including a pair of home runs, in the fifth inning, but allowed just one walk in the other five frames as he won for just the second time since April. The Oakland offense backed Gray with three homers, the 14th, 15th and 16th for the resurgently muscled A's in the first 12 games since the All-Star break. That pro- duction evolved into 46-55 Oak- land's eighth win in 12 games since the break, the second-best record in the American League — the Angels are 8-3 — since base- ball's annual summer vacation. It's been a tough year for Gray, whose last start against Tampa Bay saw him give up seven runs in a game for the fourth time this season. That left him 1-8 with a 6.45 ERA in his last 14 starts. But Tuesday gave some glimpse of the pitcher who fin- ished third in the Cy Young Award voting last year. After the start of the game had been delayed for 62 minutes by rain, Gray issued a leadoff walk in the second inning. Other than the five hits to start the fifth in- ning, the Rangers didn't touch him. But seeing as the five hits included two homers and a dou- ble, the game was once again in the balance after the fifth. Reliever Liam Hendriks took over in the seventh, struck out the side then got help in the form of a two-out, two-on strikeout from lefty Marc Rzepczynski to get out of an eighth-inning jam. The A's added a run on a Coco Crisp dou- ble in the ninth. The A's have shown renewed power since the All-Star break, and they were at it again Tues- day, beginning with leadoff hit- ter Coco Crisp, who returned to the lineup after two days off and hit his eighth homer, a solo shot into the second deck in right field to lead off the fourth against Nick Martinez. Two batters later Josh Reddick lined a shot into the lower seats in right, this one with a man on, and suddenly the lead was 3-0. An inning later Marcus Semien's 21st homer added a fourth run and Reddick's two- out RBI single got the lead to 5-0. It seemed through four innings that the A's early offense would be plenty. Gray hadn't allowed a hit and the only blemish against him was a second-inning leadoff walk. All that changed in the Rangers' fifth inning. Oakland got a break when Rougned Odor got the first hit but tried to turn it into double and Reddick threw him out. From there on, things got tougher for Gray. Joey Gallo delivered his first big league homer. Two batters later Mitch Moreland hit a two- run bomb, cutting the A's lead to two. Gray allowed a double and a walk after that, but he got the fi- nal two outs of the inning. MLB Gray, A's defeat Rangers on road LM OTERO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland A's starting pitcher Sonny Gray throws during the first inning against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. RODEO PAGE 3 PGA PAGE 3 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, July 27, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1