w/ Chris Parks

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – Rougned Odor homered and Cole Hamels pitched 7 2/3 innings as the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 on Friday night.

Hamels (7-1) allowed three hits while striking out six and walking three. He lowered his road ERA to 1.64 this season and turned in his fourth consecutive quality start.

Hamels scattered five baserunners and allowed only one to reach second.

Odor homered on the first pitch he saw in the fifth, hitting it 433 feet to straightaway center. It was Odor’s third homer in as many games and the 19th for the Rangers in their last eight games.

Sam Dyson picked up his 12th save.

The Rangers have won four straight, improving to an AL-best 43-25. Texas improved to 4-0 all-time at Busch Stadium in the regular season and is a win away from winning a franchise-record eighth consecutive series.

Atlantic 8, Red Oak 6
CAM, Anita 10, Adair-Casey 0 (6 innings)
Centerville 11, Clarke, Osceola 7
Centerville 13, Clarke, Osceola 2
Denison-Schleswig 8, Shenandoah 7
East Mills 8, Stanton 3
Glidden-Ralston 2, Coon Rapids-Bayard 1
Griswold 16, Riverside, Oakland 0
Interstate 35, Truro 16, Nodaway Valley 6
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 15, Westwood, Sloan 10
Missouri Valley 9, AHSTW, Avoca 2
Pleasantville 18, Southwest Valley 0 (4 innings )
Shenandoah 13, Denison-Schleswig 5
Tri-Center, Neola 12, Logan-Magnolia 2 (5 innings)
Underwood 3, IKM-Manning 2

Atlantic 6, Clear Creek-Amana 3
Winterset 12, Atlantic 0
CAM, Anita 12, Adair-Casey 0
CB Abraham-Lincoln 11, Clarinda 8
Clarke, Osceola 3, Centerville 1
Essex 32, Nishnabotna 0
Exira-EHK 11, AR-WE-VA, Westside 1
IKM-Manning 7, Underwood 0
Martensdale-St Marys 16, Bedford 3
Missouri Valley 8, AHSTW 2
Moulton-Udell 21, Orient-Macksburg 11
Red Oak 3, Sidney 0
Solon 12, Harlan 0
Southeast Warren, Liberty Center 4, Lenox 2
Stanton 10, East Mills 9
Treynor 16, Audubon 4
Westwood, Sloan 9, Maple Valley-Anthon Oto 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Delvin Perez, the 17-year-old Puerto Rican shortstop who fell to the 23rd pick in the draft after testing positive for performance enhancing substances, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Perez played at the International Baseball Academy in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Perez took ground balls and batting practice at Busch Stadium on Friday.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have added another promising prospect to their 25-man roster, calling up catcher Willson Contreras from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs dipped into their farm system again after promoting outfielder Albert Almora Jr. from Iowa last week with Jorge Soler going on the disabled list.

The 24-year-old Contreras is getting his first look in the majors after dominating in the minors. The Cubs want him to learn from veteran catchers Miguel Montero and David Ross. To make room, Chicago designated catcher Tim Federowicz for assignment before Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Contreras, who was not in the lineup, was batting .350 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs at Iowa. He was signed by Chicago as a non-drafted minor league free agent out of Venezuela in July 2009.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets have signed wide receiver Kyle Williams, who tried out for the team during minicamp this week. The Jets also announced Friday that they have waived wide receiver Quenton Bundrage, signed as an undrafted free agent in May out of Iowa State.

Williams is entering his sixth NFL season and has 47 catches for 574 yards and four touchdowns in his career. He was a sixth-round pick of the 49ers in 2010 out of Arizona State. He played three seasons for San Francisco, but lost two fumbles on punt returns in the NFC championship game in 2012 with the second setting up the Giants’ winning field goal in overtime.

Williams was claimed off waivers by Kansas City in 2013, and signed with Denver the following year, but missed last season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 17, 2016 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have recalled second baseman Kolten Wong from Memphis (AAA) and that outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker has been optioned to the triple-A club.

Wong, who was optioned to Memphis following the Cardinals game on June 5, hit safely in all seven of his games with the Redbirds, batting .429 (12-for-28) with 4 HR’s and 11 RBI. He hit a pair of homers in his first game with the Redbirds (June 9 vs. Colorado Springs), including a game-winning grand slam, and he also hit a pair of homers with 4 RBI on June 14 at Nashville.

Wong started in centerfield for the Redbirds in three games (28.0 innings) where he handled four chances and recorded an outfield assist. Wong, 25, was batting .222 (28-for-126) with one home run and 5 RBI in 49 games with St. Louis this season.

Hazelbaker, a rookie, was batting .250 (31-for-124) with 7 HR’s and 19 RBI in 61 games. He has hit three pinch-hit home runs, and was leading the team with four stolen bases.

Cedar Rapids native and NASCAR driver Joey Gase made a pit stop in Ankeny Thursday at the D-O-T Driver’s License station to encourage Iowans to sign up to be an organ donor. Gase got a quick education in organ donation as an 18-year-old when his mother Mary died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2011 and he found out she wanted to donate her organs.

“I didn’t really know anything much at all about organ donation besides when you go to the D-M-V it’s just a quick yes or no question. And I feel like that’s how it is for a lot of people,” Gase says. “And at that time I honestly didn’t know if I was an organ donor and had to take out my license and see. And I was.” Gase says the toughest part was when doctors didn’t come out and tell him that his mom was going to get better. But he says the family takes comfort in the way the donation of her organs has helped others.

“We know now that she is very happy I am sure right now that she was able to help 66 people,” Gase says. He has a picture of his mother on the front of his car along with another picture of organ donor, Jessica Peine and the logo for the Iowa Organ Donor Network. Gase says his experience with his mom prompted him to continue supporting the organ donation cause.

“I learned how important it was and how many misconceptions there are out there and how many people are on the wait list, and I wanted to help all of that,” Gase explains. “One of the biggest misconceptions is — if I am an organ donor, the doctor is not going to do everything they can to save me — and I learned first-hand with my mom’s experience that’s not the case.” He says you should get the facts and make your choice about whether you would like to mark your driver’s license to be an organ donor.

“I really encourage everyone to donatelife.net and look up all the facts. Where a lot of people hear about donation is through movies and T-V shows and stuff like that, and that is where a lot of the misconceptions come from unfortunately,” Gase says. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Services Division director Mark Lowe says they are focusing on doing a better job of explaining how motorists can sign up to donate organs.

“We needed to make sure that our staff knew that was an important function of their job and when people come to the station they knew that they were not just being asked if they are an organ donor, but if they wanted to be one. As we’ve tracked that, we are continuing to see increases throughout the state,” Lowe says. The information about being an organ donor may be one of the last worries of people who are waiting in line to get a driver’s license or take a test.

“And that’s why one of the things we’ve coached our staff about is actually slow and make sure they understand the question and they have a chance to say yes to this,” Lowe explains. “And at the same time we want to make sure that the customers know that this is a decision that they can make, and it is easy to do just by saying yes.” He says a little more than half of drivers agree to mark their license indicating they want to donate their organs.

He says there are about two-point-one million licensed drivers and somewhere between 55 and 60 percent are organ donors. “Which really puts Iowa very well place nationally — but we just think we can do better every year,” Lowe says. Gase had his car at the event and people were encouraged to put their handprints in paint on the car and write a message in support of organ donation. He is set to run in the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E-15 250 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton Sunday.

(Radio Iowa)

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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