SAN DIEGO (AP) — J.P. Crawford homered on Stephen Kolek's first pitch and Rowdy Tellez and Cal Raleigh each added a two-run shot for the Seattle Mariners, who beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 Friday night in the opening game of the inaugural Vedder Cup.
Rookie Logan Evans (2-1) pitched six strong innings for the Mariners, who took a 1 1/2-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The Padres came in trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by one game in the NL West.
Click to Gallery
San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth celebrates on third base after hitting a triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez singles during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. runs after hitting a single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
Seattle Mariners' Rowdy Tellez celebrates at home plate after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
The annual interleague series between the teams that share a spring training complex was informally known since 2011 as the Vedder Cup, a reference to Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Vedder, who is actually a Chicago Cubs fan, spent some formative years in San Diego before moving to Seattle and joining the fledgling band in 1990. The two teams formalized the competition in March, with the winner getting a trophy featuring a guitar provided by Vedder. Pearl Jam was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
The teams play again in Seattle Aug. 25-27.
The Padres and Mariners will support EB Research Partnership, a charity co-founded by Eddie and Jill Vedder dedicated to funding research to discover treatments and cures for Epidermolysis Bullosa.
Crawford's homer was his fourth. Tellez also connected to right with two outs in the fourth, with Raleigh aboard on a walk. It was his seventh. Raleigh homered to left, his 14th, after Julio Rodriguez singled leading off the sixth.
Evans held the Padres to seven hits while striking out three and walking one. Only four Padres reached scoring position.
Kolek (2-1) was coming off his first career complete game in a 21-0 win at Colorado last Saturday. He allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.
Crawford set the tone with his 357-foot homer over the home run porch in the right field corner.
Crawford's 14 leadoff homers are second in Mariners history behind Ichiro Suzuki's 37.
Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (1-2, 6.91 ERA) and Padres RHP Nick Pivetta (5-2, 3.05) are scheduled to start Saturday night.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth celebrates on third base after hitting a triple during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez singles during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. runs after hitting a single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
Seattle Mariners' Rowdy Tellez celebrates at home plate after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Friday, May 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Brandon Sloter)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
