Seattle Reign FC need points. The journey to get out of the bottom of the standings began tonight at Lumen Field as Laura Harvey’s side started a grueling three-match week. Friday night they hosted San Diego Wave FC, and it was a signature NWSL After Dark affair.

Nine minutes into the match Reign forward Tziarra King was shown a straight red card after VAR summoned referee Danielle Cheskey to the monitor and it was determined that King committed a violent action, striking San Diego’s Hanna Lundkvist in the face. Kyra Carusa opened the scoring for the Wave two minutes after the reset. Seattle would get their equalizer in the 34th minute as Bethany Balcer capitalized on a blunder by San Diego goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan while trying to play the ball out of the back.

The second half saw no chaos, no controversy and despite Seattle playing basically the entire evening with 10 players, they were the more aggressive side, making runs into San Diego’s defensive third and threatening them. And for a team trying to snap a five-match losing streak, thinking it was going to be another hard evening with the early red card, luck finally came to Seattle as an 89th minute goal by Veronica Latsko gave Seattle a 2-1 victory over San Diego Wave FC.

WHAT WORKED: FORTUNE FAVORS BOATS

There’s an X/Twitter account called @wpiootbgw, which stands for When Playing It Out of the Back Goes Wrong, and this time Reign FC were the beneficiaries of it as Bethany Balcer claimed the equalizer for Seattle in the 34th minute when San Diego tried to play the ball out of the back.

WHAT WORKED: 89th MINUTE MAGIC

Despite playing nearly the entire match down a player after the red card, Seattle were the aggressors for most of the second half. Ji didn’t start the match, but came on in the 67th minute and set up the winning moment with a sublime free kick into the box that Veronica Latsko got her head onto, and with her entire body away from goal redirected it at the exact angle that San Diego’s Kailen Sheridan could do nothing with, encapsulating Seattle’s resilient, never-say-die energy to win the match.

WHAT WORKED: LAUREL IVORY

Ivory has been in goal for Seattle ever since Claudia Dickey had to leave the match at Bay FC on April 14 due to a knee injury. Over the course of the losing streak, teammates have been steadfast in praising Ivory for putting in the work at training. The circumstances may have been on the extreme end of the chaos scale even for the NWSL, but tonight Ivory claimed her first NWSL regular-season win, which coincidentally was captain Lauren Barnes’ 100th win, the first player in NWSL history to hit that achievement. Ivory earned her win tonight, especially with this save.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: SO… THAT RED CARD…

NWSL After Dark kicked in nine minutes into the match when Tziarra King was shown a straight red after a referee Danielle Cheskey was summoned to the VAR monitor. While running alongside one another, King’s right hand struck Hanna Lundkvist in the face. The VAR check came during a stoppage so Lundkvist could be tended to due to a facial laceration, and Cheskey determined it was enough of a violent action to merit a straight red for King. This play and a similar red to Wave midfielder Kristen McNabb late in second-half stoppage time will definitely be discussed over the weekend around the league.

After the match, Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey was asked if the club was going to or had already initiated an appeal process for King’s red, but she didn’t tip her hand as to the club’s plan. The club can appeal it, but as to whether they choose to do so and if will be successful, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“I say 9.5”

Aficionados of NWSL After Dark got their money’s worth with tonight’s game. When asked to put the game they had just played on the NWSL After Dark scale of 1 to 10, Veronica Latsko said, “You always have to leave room for growth, I say 9.5.” Laurel Ivory added, “All I kept saying after the game was, ‘What just happened?!’”

Taking in the results around the league so far this week, Seattle are no longer at the bottom of the table and now in 10th place with the win. It’s a short turnaround for Seattle as they’re back at Lumen Field on Wednesday, May 8 for a weeknight meeting with Kansas City Current. Kansas City will be coming in on an even shorter turnaround as they have a match this Sunday at Houston Dash. Seattle Reign FC vs. Kansas City Current is scheduled for a 7 PM kickoff and will be broadcast on the NWSL+ streaming platform as well as locally on KONG TV.

HOUSTON – Jose Altuve hit a go-ahead bunt RBI single and collected his 300th career stolen base in Houston’s four-run seventh inning to lead the Astros to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

The 2017 AL MVP is the fifth player in MLB history to have at least 300 steals, 2,000 hits, 400 doubles, 200 homers and a career batting average of .300 or higher, joining Derek Jeter, Paul Molitor, Willie Mays and Roberto Alomar.

“It’s always good to get milestones like that, but I think that we are in the wrong time to think about stats because we’re trying to win games and cover some ground we lost in the beginning,” Altuve said. “But yeah I’m very happy and thankful for this kind of stuff.”

The Astros moved into a tie with the Angels for last place in the AL West at 12-20 while the first-place Mariners fell to 17-15.

The Mariners missed a scoring opportunity in the eighth. Josh Rojas was on second and Julio Rodríguez on third with no outs before Ryan Pressly struck out Jorge Polanco.

Mitch Haniger then hit a high fly ball to right field that Kyle Tucker caught. Rojas took off toward home before quickly retreating to third base. But Rodríguez dashed toward third, forcing Rojas into a rundown that resulted in him being tagged out at the plate to end the inning.

“We didn’t play good baseball,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “Free bases, base running miscues, you can’t do that on the road against a good team.”

Josh Hader walked one in a scoreless ninth for his third save.

“We’ve just got to continue to remind ourselves how good we are when we play our style of baseball, doing the little things well,” manager Joe Espada said. “And when we do that, we are a really, really good team.”

Jeremy Peña got things going in the seventh with a walk before a single by Yainer Diaz. There was one out in the inning when Gabe Speier (0-1) came in and walked pinch-hitter Jake Meyers to load the bases.

The Astros cut the lead to one when Peña scored on an error by catcher Cal Raleigh on a pickoff attempt. A sacrifice fly by Mauricio Dubón scored Diaz to tie it before Altuve’s hit.

Altuve’s bunt rolled toward third base allowing Meyers to score just before Altuve beat the throw by Rojas to first to make it 4-3.

“I felt like we needed this game and it was a must-win for us, so I decided to take the chance,” Altuve.

Altuve stole second base before consecutive walks by Tucker and Yordan Alvarez loaded the bases for the second time in the inning. Cody Bolton replaced Speier and he walked Alex Bregman to extend the lead to 5-3.

Polanco hit a solo homer for Seattle in the third and Dylan Moore’s two-run shot in the fifth made it 3-1.

The bullpen struggles ruined a strong start by George Kirby. He allowed four hits and one run in six innings for Seattle’s 20th quality start this season, which leads the majors.

Servais said he pulled Kirby after six because he is dealing with a right knee issue that he doesn’t consider to be major.

Houston starter Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut, allowed five hits and a season-high three runs in six innings. Seth Martinez (2-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win.

There was one out in the fourth when Alvarez snapped an 0-for-18 skid with a double to center field. Bregman singled to send him to third before the Astros tied it when Alvarez scored on Peña’s groundout.

TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: RHP Cristian Javier (sore neck) will make a rehabilitation start for Double-A Corpus Christi on Saturday. He is expected to throw 60-65 pitches. Manager Joe Espada said they expect him to come off the injured list after that start.

UP NEXT
Houston LHP Framber Valdez (1-0, 2.60) opposes RHP Logan Gilbert (2-0, 2.03) when the series continues Saturday night.

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Coinciding with his team debut on the practice field during rookie minicamp, the Seattle Seahawks and Byron Murphy II have agreed to terms on a four-year contract with a fifth-year option.

Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, per slotted value for NFL draft picks, Murphy’s rookie deal will be worth $16.08 million and Seattle will have the option to pick up his fifth-year option before the 2027 season. He becomes the first member of the Seahawks latest draft class to sign the dotted line.

Earning All-American and All-Big 12 honors as a junior at Texas, Murphy broke out as one of the most disruptive interior defenders in college football last season, helping guide the Longhorns to a College Football Playoff berth. He finished with 29 tackles, five sacks, and 8.5 tackles for loss while ranking in the top five among defensive linemen in quarterback pressures, pass rush win rate, and pass rush productivity rating according to Pro Football Focus.