By Tim Clinton
Pros
Seahawks
Late interceptions by Nehemiah Pritchett, Julian Love and Josh Jobe paved the way to a come-from-behind 13-10 season opening victory over the New England Patriots this Wednesday at Lumen Field.
The first two of the three set up the game-tying touchdown and go-ahead field goal for Seattle and the third by Jobe in the end zone sealed the deal at the end.
New England had taken a 10-0 lead in the Super Bowl rematch, and things did not look good for the Seahawks as starting quarterback Sam Darnold left the game with a hip injury during the first drive.
But backup Drew Lock led the team to its first field goal with 3:13 to play in the third quarter with Jason Myers booting the ball through the uprights from 30 yards out.
Pritchett then set up the tying touchdown with his interception, with the score coming on a pass and run play from Lock to Jaxon Smith-Njigba from 45 yards out.
Myers' conversion kick made it a 10-10 game with 11:26 to go in the fourth quarter.
Love came through with an interception on the next Patriots drive, setting up a 26-yard field goal by Myers that put Seattle on top, 13-10, with 5:50 remaining
New England drove within tying field goal range and possible touchdown range in the closing seconds, but Jobe intercepted the ball on the right side of the end zone on the final play to prevent either.
Lock completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and the one touchdown for the Seahawks and Smith-Njigba caught eight of those for 122 yards. Jadarian Price led the Seattle running backs with 52 yards on 10 carries.
Ernest Jones IV led the Seahawks with 13 tackles and Drake Thomas added nine.
Seattle is now off until Sunday, Sept. 20 when it visits the Arizona Cardinals for a 1:25 p.m. game.
Mariners
The longest home run in the history of T-Mobile Park in the stat cast era that started in 2015 provided great highlight material Tuesday, as late callup Lazaro Montes blasted a 474-foot shot over the J-Rod section in center field to break the old record of 470 feet set by Mike Zunino in 2017.
The shot even put the Mariners in the game at 4-3 at the time, but that did not last in an eventual 10-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
But it was a different story for Seattle the next afternoon, as it rode pitching and timely hitting without the benefit of a home run to a 3-2 victory.
Rookie left-hander Kade Anderson threw the first six innings to earn his first Major League Baseball win, allowing only one run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Seranthony Dominguez allowed no runs in the seventh on one walk with one strikeout, but lefty Gabe Speier gave up one run in the eighth to former Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager's younger brother Corey to make it a 3-2 game.
Andres Munoz recorded the save in the ninth, striking out two to negate one walk and a grounder that moved the Rangers runner to second.
Taylor Ward singled in the Mariners' first run in the second on a single to make it 1-1 and Cole Young came through with a two-run double off the wall in right with two out in the fourth for a 3-1 lead.
Texas took a 4-0 lead Tuesday before Montes launched his moon shot in the fourth to make it 4-3. Dominic Canzone added an RBI double in the eighth that made it 10-4 and Randy Arozarena lofted an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.
Seattle capped off the series Thursday afternoon with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Rangers.
After falling behind, 3-0, the Mariners rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh with the first scoring on an RBI single by Canzone and three scoring on a home run to left by Julio Rodriguez.
Logan Gilbert struck out 11 Texas hitters over the first seven innings and got the win, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks.
Speier got out of the eighth unscathed in spite of one hit with the help of two strikeouts and Munoz gave up two walks but no runs with the help of three grounders up the middle in the ninth for the save.
The Mariners go on the road to Sacramento to play the Athletics at 6:40 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. Seattle goes on to Anaheim to take on the Los Angeles Angels and to Colorado to play the Rockies next week before coming home for the final six games of the regular season with two against the Houston Astros and four against the Angels.
Anything beyond that will require a continued herculean effort and a lot of help and luck at this point, as the Mariners are nine games under .500 at 69-78. They are six games behind the Astros in the American League West with the Rangers three games out in second, so it is still possible, however.
Sounders
Seattle visits the Los Angeles Galaxy for a 7:30 p.m. Saturday men's soccer match.
Reign
The Seattle women's soccer team plays host to Bay FC for 5 p.m. Saturday action at Lumen Field.
Rainiers
Tacoma opened its final homestand of the year at Cheney Stadium with an 8-7 victory over the El Paso Chihuahuas on Tuesday afternoon but took a 4-2 loss the next night before topping them, 5-4, in 11 innings Thursday.
The Rainiers play them again at 7:05 p.m. Friday, 6:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:35 p.m. Sunday before wrapping up with six games on the road at Round Rock.
Colleges
Husky football
Washington entertains Utah State for a 12:30 p.m. Saturday game at Husky Stadium, coming in with a 1-0 season record after its 24-10 opening win over Washington State this past Sunday.
Cougar football
Washington State drops in on Kansas State for a 9 a.m. Saturday game.
Husky men's soccer
The defending national champion UW team hosts Penn State for a 7:30 p.m. Friday match.
Husky women' s soccer
Washington, the defending Big 10 Conference champion, entertains Rutgers at 1 p.m. Sunday after shutting out the Maryland Terrapins by a 2-0 score in a Thursday home match
Husky and Cougar volleyball
Washington State comes to the Alaska Airlines Arena otherwise known as Hec Edmundson Pavilion at 2 p.m. Sunday to play the Washington Huskies, who were 25-14, 25-16. 25-21 winners over Lipscomb on Thursday.
Lipscomb also plays WSU at 8 p.m. Friday at the Arena and Southern Utah meets them there at 2 p.m. Saturday.