MINNEAPOLIS -- While the Seattle Mariners are trying to avoid an early end to their season, the Minnesota Twins need a late-season win streak to avoid an ugly bit of franchise history.The Mariners remain in the thick of the American League wild-card race heading into Sundays series finale at Target Field but cannot have slip-ups like Saturday nights power outage if they are to make the postseason for the first time since 2001.Theyre all important, Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Saturdays 3-2 loss cost Seattle a chance to advance on the Detroit Tigers, who also lost. Tonight was important, tomorrows important, the next ones important. Its just where we are in the season.For the Twins, who head into their final home game of the season with 99 losses, the task is to avoid becoming just the second team in franchise history to reach triple-digit losses. The 1982 Twins lost 102 games -- a mark that this team could eclipse with seven games to play.The 1982 Twins were the first to play indoor baseball in Minnesota, with the Metrodome opening that season. They were hard to watch but included young players like Kent Hrbek, Frank Viola, Tim Laudner, Tom Brunansky and Gary Gaetti, who formed the nucleus of the team that would win a World Series five years later.If the Twins are to avoid that dubious distinction, theyll need to keep hitting home runs. They now have 192 this season, which is the most the franchise has recorded since that 1987 World Series championship team hit 196.This is a moment when I see my team play hard and I play hard too, said Twins slugger Miguel Sano, who blasted his 24th homer of the season on Saturday.On Sunday, the Twins will send left-hander Hector Santiago (12-9, 4.82 ERA) out to face Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker (6-11, 4.32).Working on the mound at Target Field might bring back good memories for Walker, whose only previous start in Minnesota came July 31, 2015, when he threw a complete game, allowing just one hit and striking out 11.Of course, none of that will matter if the Mariners cant score runs, which was their problem in Saturdays loss that dropped them to 1-4 against the Twins this season. Nelson Cruzs towering homer, measured at 493 feet, was their only offense.After giving up the go-ahead homer to the Twins in the fourth inning, the Mariners pitchers retired the last 15 Minnesota batters in a row, but couldnt score again.Our bullpen did a nice job of keeping us right there, but offensively we just couldnt get much going, Servais said. Obviously, Nellie hit the big homer, but other than that there werent a whole lot of chances.The Seattle loss, coupled with a Baltimore win, has the Mariners 2 1/2 games back of the final wild-card spot, but the task is tougher, as they would need to leap-frog Houston, Detroit and Baltimore to get to play games after their Oct. 2 regular-season finale with Oakland at Safeco Field. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Emmanuel-Sanders-Jersey/ . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Max-Garcia-Jersey/ . PAUL, Minn. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Steve-Atwater-Jersey/ . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Shannon-Sharpe-Jersey/ . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Ronald-Leary-Jersey/ . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. INDIANAPOLIS -- Scoring isnt an issue for Indiana. The Pacers can put up points.Its the struggles on the defensive end of the floor that cost them two losses in their first three games, and almost once more on Tuesday night. And their All-Star is very aware.I know what a good defensive team is. I know what it looks like. Were nowhere close to that, Paul George said.George scored 30 points, including Indianas final 12 of the game to rally the Pacers to a 115-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.The Lakers trailed by as many as 16 points, but rallied and had their final lead at 108-107 before George put it away.We were searching for players to go to, Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. Paul hit his first shot and he looked like he wanted the ball, and we milked it. All-Stars like (Paul), you expect them to make plays like that. Thats what makes them great players.George made consecutive 18-foot jumpers for a 111-108 lead, then followed through on the opposite end of the floor with the biggest defensive rebound of the game. The Lakers Jordan Clarkson missed an almost uncontested layup, and it was George who came down with the rebound, sending him to the free throw line to close out the contest.Hes really good and I mean thats what great players do, Lakers coach Luke Walton said. We did a phenomenal job of coming back in the second half and we started playing with the effort and energy that we need to play the full game with, and at the end of the game anything came happen.MMonta Ellis had 17 points and CJ Miles scored 16 for the Pacers.dddddddddddd Thaddeus Young finished with 14.The Pacers most impressive moment on defense came in the second quarter, when second-year big man Myles Turner denied Tarik Blacks attempted slam dunk with authority. For the majority of the game, though, the defense was nowhere to be found.Lou Williams scored 19 points for the Lakers and Clarkson had 15.TIP-INS:Lakers: The Lakers are 0-3 on the road this season ... The Lakers rank 30th in turnovers per game, averaging 16.3. On Tuesday night, they turned it over 19 times.Pacers: The Pacers topped 100 points for the third time this season ... The Pacers are 2-0 when George scores 25 points or more ... Indiana has won six of the last seven meetings against the Lakers.BAD TIMINGThe game was delayed three times in the first 30 seconds while scoring officials tried to fix a malfunction with the game clock. For the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game, the clock was not operable. Scorers were forced to use stop watches, and the Pacers public address announcer had to announce when there was 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock, then count down when it reached 5 seconds. The issue was resolved with 5:55 remaining in the first quarter.UP NEXT:Lakers: Visit Atlanta on Wednesday to conclude a four-game trip.Pacers: Travels to Milwaukee on Wednesday. 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