BASEBALL
CINCINNATI (AP) Scooter Gennett hit four home runs, matching the major league record, and finished with 10 RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds routed the slumping St. Louis Cardinals 13-1.
Gennett became the 17th player to homer four times in one game – and perhaps the least likely. A scrappy second baseman who was claimed off waivers from Milwaukee in late March, he began the night with 38 career home runs, including three this season.
Josh Hamilton was the previous player to hit four home runs in one game, for Texas against Baltimore in May 2012.
Gennett singled his first time up and then homered in four straight at-bats, including a grand slam. His 10 RBIs tied Cincinnati’s club record.
NEW YORK (AP) – Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy says pitchers such as Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka shouldn’t be allowed translators on the mound and should instead ”learn baseball language.”
Remy’s comments during the NESN telecast of the Boston-New York game quickly drew harsh criticism on social media, with some saying there isn’t one universal language for baseball.
The Red Sox analyst made his remarks on air after Tanaka was visited by Japanese translator Shingo Horie and pitching coach Larry Rothschild in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium.
”I don’t think that should be legal,” Remy said, telling play-by-play man Dave O’Brien, ”I really don’t.”
”Learn baseball language. You know, learn, it’s pretty simple. You break it down pretty easy between pitching coach and pitcher after a long period of time,” Remy said.
O’Brien answered: ”I would say that probably, you know, they’re concerned about nuance being lost in some of these conversations.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Three Michigan State football players were charged with criminal sexual conduct after a woman said she was raped and forced to perform oral sex in the bathroom of an on-campus apartment during a party in January.
Josh King, 19, was charged with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and with distributing an image of an unclothed person. Demetric Vance, 20, and Donnie Corley Jr., 19, face third-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.
Coach Mark Dantonio dismissed all three from the football program moments after the charges were made public, and he later joined athletic director Mark Hollis for a news conference.
PRO FOOTBALL
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) – David Harris was just the latest veteran player shown the door in what has been an offseason purge by the New York Jets.
Eric Decker will be the next to leave. And, there could be more to come.
On a dreary day that will be remembered by Jets fans for fond farewells to two of their favorites, Harris was released and Decker was told he will be traded or cut. The two moves will save the Jets $13.75 million in salary cap space.
Harris and Decker join what has become a lengthy list of veterans who have been sent packing during the past few months. That includes cornerback Darrelle Revis, center Nick Mangold, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, kicker Nick Folk, offensive tackle Breno Giacomini and safety Marcus Gilchrist, who were cut; Calvin Pryor, who was traded last week to Cleveland; and quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith, who were allowed to become free agents.
Both Harris and Decker participated in practice during organized team activities on Tuesday.
CLIMBING
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A man trying to climb North America’s highest mountain fell 40 feet (12.2 meters) into a glacier crevasse and got wedged into the ice, forcing rescuers in Alaska to drop into the narrow hole one by one to chip him out.
Martin Takac, 38, of Trmava, Slovakia, was in critical condition with suspected trauma injuries and hypothermia after it took crews 14 hours to lift him out of the deep crack on 20,310-foot (6,190-meter) Denali.
He was one of two climbers rescued in separate incidents Monday by Denali National Park rangers. They also came to the aid of Michael Metzler, 23, of Carnation, Washington, a solo climber who fell ill.
Takac fell into the crevasse at 7,800 feet (2,377 meters), and a professional guide, Mountain Trip co-owner Bill Allen, and two assistants tried to rescue him but the force had wedged him into the glacier.
They radioed park rangers at 1:30 a.m. Monday. A helicopter flew in five rescuers hours later.
The crevasse was wide enough for only one person to descend at a time. The five took turns dropping in to cut away at the ice, requiring them to free Takac while making sure he was secured by rope.
SOCCER
Orlando City SC is condemning a social media post that targeted a Major League Soccer referee.
The Twitter post came from an account that purports to belong to the president of the Ruckus supporters’ group. The Ruckus group’s official Twitter account retweeted the post, which was deleted.
”When you have a lot of free time on Summer vacation,” the post said, adding the hashtag: UnleashThe Ruckus. It went on to include the referee’s business address and phone number.
Lions fans were upset about red cards the referee issued in the team’s 0-0 draw with the Chicago Fire last weekend. On Tuesday, the team formally appealed the red shown to defender Rafael Ramos in the 26th minute.
Orlando City SC issued a statement that said it does not condone the actions of the supporters’ group member. The team asked that the post be taken down.
NATIVE AMERICAN MASCOTS
BOSTON (AP) – Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing whether to ban the use of Native American mascots in public schools – a proposal that drew strong opinions at a public hearing.
The push comes after the town of Tewksbury rebuffed efforts to change the name of its high school mascot, the Redmen.
Linda Thomas has children in the first and fourth grades in Tewksbury and said she doesn’t want to signal that ”it’s OK to use these images and memes and logos.”
”The name has becomes so integrated and repeated that the meaning is lost,” she said. ”People using it don’t intend to cause harm, but the impact is harmful and Native Americans have been saying this now for decades.”
Thomas added it’s hard to imagine any other racial group being used as a mascot.
