Martin had a leadoff triple in the eighth that chased

SEATTLE -- Ryan Johnson flicked in a header early in the first half, and Darlington Nagbe scored midway through the second half on Saturday night as the Portland Timbers beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinals series. Brandon Kintzler Jersey . The third-year Timbers, playing in their first MLS post-season contest, need just a draw in Wednesdays second leg at Portland to advance to the conference finals. Osvaldo Alonso scored in the 90th minute for the Sounders, who need to win the second leg by at least two goals to win the aggregate total and advance. If the Sounders outscore the Timbers by one goal in the second match to even the aggregate total, there would be overtime to decide the series. Diego Chara started the play that led to Portlands first goal with a long pass toward the right side. Jack Jewsbury was on the receiving end and took it deep into the corner. He crossed it into the penalty area, and Johnson, cutting across goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemanns 6-yard box, flicked a header that went off Hahnemanns hands and into the far side of the net early in the 15th minute. Johnsons goal was his 10th of the year for the Timbers, who went unbeaten through their last eight games of the regular season (5-0-3) to secure the Wests No. 1 seed. Nagbe made it 2-0 in the 67th minute. Kalif Alhassan, playing on the right side, sent the ball into the box. Nagbe spun around a Seattle defender and parked a shot past Hahnemann into the left side for his 10th of the year. Alonso got one back for Seattle late after a long throw-in by Brad Evans was re-directed by Shalrie Joseph out to Alsonso, who drilled it in past Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts from 14 yards straight in front for his first of the season. Joe Pepitone Cubs Jersey . Hollis-Jefferson went 5-for-6 from the field and added six rebounds, while Stanley Jefferson contributed 14 points for the Wildcats, who used their trademark tough defense to dominate the games final 24 minutes and advance to Tuesdays winners bracket matchup with Kansas State. Rod Beck Cubs Jersey .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself. https://www.cheapcubs.com/2890t-moises-alou-jersey-cubs.html .Y. - Geno Smith shouted a couple of mighty expensive expletives.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas centre fielder Leonys Martin wound up being the star of a battle of top pitchers. Martin had a leadoff triple in the eighth that chased Seattle ace Felix Hernandez. An inning later, Martin singled in the winning run with two out as the Rangers scored two unearned runs off closer Fernando Rodney for a 3-2 win over the Mariners on Wednesday night. "He was in the middle of the first run by hitting the triple off Hernandez, who was outstanding tonight," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "And then he comes up in that situation against one of the best closers in the game. He just tried to put the ball in play, and it worked. Its good for him, its good for the team, and we can build on it." Rodney (0-1) retired the first two in the ninth before Kevin Kouzmanoffs single ricocheted off the glove of sliding shortstop Brad Miller and dribbled into the outfield. Mitch Moreland drew a walk before pinch-hitter Donnie Murphys grounder was fielded by Miller, whose toss to second base was high. The error allowed Moreland to slide in safely and extended the game. "It was hit right at me. It kind of ran up on me," Miller said. "I threw it too high. I saw it was too high off the get-go. Everybody did their part but me. Everybody played their butts off. Ive just got to make that play next time." Rodney then threw a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score. Martins sharp single to left gave Texas its fourth victory in its final at-bat at home already this season. It was Rodneys first blown save in four chances. Pedro Figueroa (1-0) worked a perfect ninth for his first major league victory. Hernandez retired 10 in a row before Martins triple. He allowed four hits and one run, when Martin scored on a sacrifice fly against pinch-hitter Michael Choice, the first batter for reliever Charlie Furbush. "All of my pitches were working. I just made one mistake in the game," said Hernandez, who struck out nine. "That was that fastball to (Martin)." Texas ace Yu Darvish struck eight and walked two in seveen innings, but remains winless in his last eight home starts despite a 2. Larry Bowa Jersey. 33 ERA in those games. Darvish didnt allow a run in his first two starts of the season, but was down 2-0 in the second after No. 9 hitter Mike Zunino and Abraham Almonte had consecutive two-out RBI singles. "Youve got to give Seattle credit, they fought him pretty hard for their at-bats, they just wasnt going up there making outs," Washington said. "That was their two runs. ... He kept us in the game, he really did. Usually when you give Felix one or two runs, he know how to take it to the house, but we kept battling him and we finally got him out of the game and some good things happened." Martin also had a nifty running catch, reaching and lunging with his arm fully extended steps from the centre-field wall to rob Dustin Ackley of a hit in the sixth. But there was also a play in the fourth when Zunino reached on what was ruled a single after a ball dropped between Martin and left fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who were both calling for the ball but backed off to avoid a collision. That was the last of Seattles seven hits in the game. This was the third head-to-head matchup of the star pitchers, and the first since 2012, the same year Darvish came to the major leagues from Japan. Hernandez won the first two, and has given up only two runs over 24 innings (0.75 ERA) in the three games -- while Darvish has a 6.75 ERA (13 earned runs over 17 1-3 innings) opposing King Felix. NOTES: Nick Franklin, who had a one-out triple in the second before scoring Seattles first run, was recalled earlier Wednesday along with outfielder James Jones after left-hander Blake Beavan (shoulder tendinitis) and outfielder Logan Morrison (strained right hamstring) were put on the 15-day disabled list. ... The Mariners had to hold up momentarily before coming off the field at the end of the fourth when Washington came out to question a force play at second base for the third out. Washington didnt challenge and ask umpires to look at the replay, which showed clearly that Moreland was out by a step. ' ' '