Man charged with shooting draft pick

July 14, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

TOPEKA, KAN.

An 18-year-old Kansas man has been charged in the April attack that wounded New York Giants draft pick Corey Ballentine and killed one of his Washburn University teammates, Dwane Simmons.

Francisco Alejandro Mendez was charged Friday with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and five counts of aggravated battery in the April 28 attack, the Shawnee County district attorney’s office said in a news release.

Mendez is being held on a $1 million bond. His case doesn’t appear yet in online court records, and his attorney, Victoria Chundak-Gallaway, in an unrelated criminal case didn’t immediately reply to a phone message left Saturday at her office.

The two Washburn defensive backs were outside of an off-campus house party hours after the Giants selected Ballentine in the sixth round of the draft when someone opened fire from a vehicle, killing Simmons and wounding Ballentine, who has since recovered.

Simon Pagenaud wins pole for IndyCar race

TORONTO

Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud will start from the pole for the IndyCar race through the streets of Toronto.

Pagenaud has been on a tear around Exhibition Place all weekend as Team Penske Chevrolet has been consistently fast and paced Saturday morning’s final practice before qualifying. Then he took pole, edging out reigning series champion Scott Dixon for the top starting spot in Sunday’s race.

Dixon later said he’s been bothered almost a month with an elbow issue that is causing him discomfort while driving.

Dixon teammate Felix Rosenqvist qualified third for Chip Ganassi Racing, followed by Indy 500 runner-up Alexander Rossi for Andretti Autosport as Honda drivers took spots two through four.

The day got off to an explosive start when Takuma Sato confronted Sebastien Bourdais following the morning practice session. Bourdais was still in his cockpit when Sato approached and appeared to grab the Frenchman, Bourdais climbed out of his car throwing haymakers and a team representative tried to separate the two drivers. But the scuffle continued another few seconds and Bourdais said later Sato seemed to overreact to an on-track pass.

Bottas wins pole by 0.006 milliseconds

SILVERSTONE, England

Valtteri Bottas was six milliseconds — 0.006 — faster than Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday to take pole position for the British Grand Prix.

It will be the first time since 2014 that Hamilton hasn’t started from the front at his home Formula One race as he chases a record sixth victory on Sunday.

Bottas opened the season by winning two of the first four races but hasn’t even been on pole since the Spanish GP in May.

Red Sox acquire Cashner from Orioles

BALTIMORE

The Boston Red Sox have upgraded their starting rotation by obtaining right-hander Andrew Cashner in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

The Red Sox also got cash while sending a pair of 17-year-old prospects to the Orioles.

Cashner is 9-3 with a 3.83 ERA in 17 starts for the team with the worst record in the majors. He has gone at least six innings in his last five starts and has a 1.41 ERA since the beginning of June.

The 32-year-old Cashner goes from the rebuilding Orioles to the defending World Series champion Red Sox, who are striving to get back into the postseason after getting off to a poor start. Boston began the day far back of AL East-leading New York but in the thick of the wild-card race.

The trade came less than three weeks before the July 31 trade deadline

Cashner is in the final season of a two-year, $16 million contract. He has a lifetime record of 55-82 with a 4.00 ERA.

The Orioles received infielder Noelberth Romero and outfielder Elio Prado.

Staff/wire report