Briefs: Mariners’ Kotchman perfect no more

Baseball: The Seattle Mariners’ Casey Kotchman had his 274-game errorless streak come to an end in the eighth inning against the New York Yankees on Saturday, the longest streak by a first baseman in major league history.

Kotchman couldn’t handle a ground ball on the glove side off the bat of Curtis Granderson, his first error since June 20, 2008, when he was a member of the Atlanta Braves.

“That was a tough one,” Kotchman said. “In between hops, hit hard.”

His string of errorless games began with the Atlanta Braves and continued during his time with the Boston Red Sox.

The Mariners acquired him in a trade this past offseason.

The mistake allowed New York to add a couple of extra runs in a 9-5 victory over the Mariners.

Yankees down M’s, C4

Alabama No. 1, BSU No. 3 in poll

Football: Alabama will start this season where it ended last season. The Crimson Tide are on top.

Coach Nick Saban has the Tide rolling the way Bear Bryant did in his day, first in the Associated Press preseason poll for the first time since 1978.

Alabama received 54 of 60 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,491 points to easily outdistance second-ranked Ohio State in the Top 25 released Saturday.

The Buckeyes, who have been ranked no lower than 11th in the last eight preseason polls, received three first-place votes.

Boise State is third, its best preseason ranking, following another undefeated season. Underdogs no more, the Broncos even received one first-place vote.

Florida, Alabama’s Southeastern Conference rival, is fourth. Fifth-ranked Texas received a first-place vote.

The poll with first- place votes and points: