SPORTS DIGEST || Scrappers lose to Cyclones in extras

Scrappers lose to Cyclones in extras

BROOKLYN, N.Y.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers held the lead against the Brooklyn Cyclones for six and a half innings, but couldn’t hold on as they lost, 2-1, in 11 innings Tuesday night.

Andrew Calica’s sac-fly scored the Scrappers lone run in the top of the first. Scrappers’ starter Shane Bieber struck out two in three scoreless innings before making way for Luis Jimenez. In the bottom of the seventh, Brooklyn tied the game as the Cyclones Franklin Correa hit a broken-bat bloop RBI-single.

The tie stood until the bottom of the 11th when Anthony Dimino hit the walkoff RBI-single. The two teams meet again tonight in Brooklyn at 7 p.m.

Russia banned from Paralympics

GENEVA

Two days after Russia finished fourth in the Olympic medal table, its Paralympic team was barred from the next big games in Rio de Janeiro as punishment for a state-backed doping program. Sport’s highest court on Tuesday upheld a decision by the International Paralympic Committee to exclude the sports superpower. It was a step the IOC declined to take when it had the chance last month.

The 267 entries which Russian Paralympic athletes earned in 18 sports for the Sept. 7-18 games in Rio will now be allocated to other nations not judged responsible for orchestrated cheating.

Russia won 36 gold medals at the 2012 Paralympics, second most in London, and was a runaway table-topping leader at its home 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Jones hits winning homer in LLWS

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.

Zach McWilliams allowed four hits and one earned run over 41/3 innings, Tyler Jones hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning and Goodlettsville, Tennessee beat Chula Vista, California 4-2 on Tuesday night in an elimination game of the Little League World Series.

Tennessee catcher Tanner Jones made a heads-up play at the plate for the third out of the sixth to force extra innings.

On the second pitch of the seventh, Tyler Jones hit a solo homer over the left-center wall to put Tennessee ahead 3-2. Brock Duffer had a one-out, bases-loaded single to score McWilliams but Ethan Jackson was thrown out at the plate to retire the side.

Tennessee reliever Robert Carroll went to the mound with two on, one out in the bottom of the seventh and got California to hit into a double play.

McWilliams also hit his second home run of the LLWS to give Tennessee, which plays Iowa on Wednesday, a 2-0 lead in the fifth.

Soccer player punished for anti-gay tweets

A Premier League player is set to be punished by English football authorities for discriminatory comments he made on social media more than four years ago.

The comments made by Burnley striker Andre Gray between Jan. 9 and March 11, 2012 appeared anti-gay. They came to light on Saturday, when they were retweeted by other people after he scored his first Premier League goal for Burnley in the team’s 2-0 win over Liverpool. Gray released a public apology after the match.

Gray was charged with misconduct on Tuesday by the Football Association, which said the alleged comments “were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.”

Wild select Prince for goal music

ST. PAUL, Minn.

The Minnesota Wild will celebrate their goals with Prince’s song “Let’s Go Crazy” this season.

The Wild announced Tuesday they will use the song after the team scores at the Xcel Energy Center. The change comes in response to feedback received from a survey of season ticket holders this summer.

It’s among the signature songs of the musical icon, who was found dead from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

The song will replace Joe Satriani’s “Crowd Chant.”

Staff/wire report