LeBron James has taken on Donald Trump, calling him the "so-called president" while calling for unity in light of the Charlottesville tragedy.
Appearing at an event connected to his charity, James said Tuesday night that he wanted to spend a moment addressing the weekend's violent protests, where a woman was killed amid ugly clashes between far-right extremists and protesters out to stop them.
James said the only way for the country "to get better as people is love."
The Cleveland Cavaliers star added: "It's not about the guy that's the so-called president of the United States, or whatever the case."
Earlier in the day, the NBA superstar blasted Trump on Twitter after the president appeared to equate the actions of white supremacists and those protesting them.
MLB:
—Sonny Gray outpitched Jacob deGrom, Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sanchez homered, and the New York Yankees held off the Mets 5-4 to sweep both Subway Series games in the Bronx. Despite another late stumble by closer Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees kept the Empire State Building lit up in pinstripes with the win. The Mets will try to change the color scheme to their shading when the rivalry now shifts to Citi Field for two games beginning Wednesday night.
The way he's going, Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton is close to clinching Major League Baseball's home run title this year.
With the teams in mid-August, Stanton on Tuesday night powered No. 44 out of the park. The next closest home run hitter is in the American League — the Yankees' Aaron Judge, who has 36.
But Stanton's home run binge has taken him to a historic place beyond just 2017.
He surpassed Miami's Gary Sheffield earlier this week when he hit his 43rd homer.
Stanton connected for a solo shot to left-center field in the third inning Tuesday night, tying the score at the time. The Marlins went on to lose to the San Francisco Giants.
The All-Star outfielder has 10 home runs in his last 11 games, and 23 in the last 35. His team ended up losing to the Giants, 9-4.
The major league record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, set by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956, Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees in 1987 and Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners in 1993.
The last player to go deep in six consecutive games was Colorado's Nolan Arenado, in early September 2015.
The Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night turned their first triple play in six years.
With runners at first and second in the fourth inning, slow-footed St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina grounded sharply to Red Sox rookie Rafael Devers at third base. He stepped on the bag and threw to second baseman Eduardo Nunez, who relayed to Mitch Moreland at first, where Molina was out on a close play.
It was the first triple play for Boston since Aug. 16, 2011, in Game 2 of a doubleheader against Tampa Bay.
It also was the latest highlight for Devers, who began the night with six homers and 21 hits in 16 games since being called up to the majors last month. He added an RBI single in the first inning Tuesday.
Boston went on to defeat the Cardinals 10-4. Xander Bogaerts had three hits. Hanley Ramirez, Sandy Leon and Jackie Bradley all added two RBIs.
In other action:
— Matt Joyce hit a three-run double to cap a six-run eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied past the Kansas City Royals 10-8. Joyce also homered and had four RBIs. The loss prevented the Royals from moving past the Angels in the race for the second AL wild card.
— Joc Pederson got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run in a five-run eighth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers rally for a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. The victory pushed the Dodgers to a whopping 50 games above .500 at 84-34.
— Andrew Albers earned his first major league win in four years, pitching five effective innings as the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 to snap a five-game losing streak. Called up from the minors earlier in the day, Albers settled down after giving up Jonathan Schoop's 26th home run in the first.
—Gio Gonzalez allowed two hits in six scoreless innings, Howie Kendrick hit two solo home runs and the Washington Nationals snapped the Los Angeles Angels' winning streak at six with a 3-1 victory. Gonzalez (11-5) struck out four and issued three walks in lowering his home ERA to 1.79, now the best in baseball. The left-hander, who was three outs from a no-hitter July 31 at Miami, allowed his first two hits into the fifth against the Angels.
—The Houston Astros had six extra-base hits in the first four innings, building a big enough lead to hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4. The Astros managed only four hits over the last five innings, but one was Max Stassi's solo home run in the ninth.
—Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer, Wilson Ramos added a solo shot and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-4, snapping a four-game skid. Backed by Tampa Bay's biggest offensive outburst since Aug. 1, Blake Snell pitched six innings to win for the first time this season. Snell's last victory came Sept. 22, 2016, against the New York Yankees.
—Keon Broxton hit a pinch-hit home run, Manny Piña drove in two runs, Zach Davies pitched into the seventh and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1. Davies (14-6) allowed six hits, including Adam Frazier's run-scoring triple in the sixth, walked two and struck out two. Jared Hughes took over and retired Josh Harrison on a bouncer back to the mound. Jacob Barnes retired the side in order in the eighth.
—Carlos Santana hit two of Cleveland's five home runs and Danny Salazar continued his strong second-half stretch in the Indians' 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Santana, Jason Kipnis and Edwin Encarnacion all hit solo homers off Bartolo Colon (4-10) as Cleveland won its fifth straight overall and stayed unbeaten in eight games in Minnesota this season.
WNBA:
Jonquel Jones had 20 points and 13 rebounds for her seventh straight double-double, and the Connecticut Sun beat the short-handed Atlanta Dream 96-75 on Tuesday night.
Connecticut (18-9), winners of six straight, won in Atlanta for the first time since June 7, 2015.
Jasmine Thomas made four 3-pointers and added 18 points for Connecticut, which clinched its first playoff spot since 2012 last Saturday. Courtney Williams scored 12 points.
Atlanta (10-19) was without its leading scorer Tiffany Hayes because of a rib injury.
Brittney Sykes scored 23 points for her fifth 20-plus game in her rookie season with the Dream. She scored a season-best 28 points in her previous game.
TIGER WOOD:
A report from Florida says golfing great Tiger Woods had the active ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers and two sleep drugs in his system when he was arrested on a DUI charge earlier this year.
Police released the report less than a week after the golf superstar agreed to enter a diversion program to settle his driving while intoxicated charges. The report's contents were first reported Monday by ESPN.
Woods issued a statement Tuesday saying he had been trying on his own to treat his insomnia and pain from his fourth back surgery, which he underwent in April. He did not specifically address the marijuana issue. None was found in his possession.
US OPEN:
Maria Sharapova has been granted a wild-card invitation for the U.S. Open's main draw.
Sharapova is among eight women who were given entry into the 128-player field by the U.S. Tennis Association on Tuesday — and by far the most noteworthy.
The former No. 1-ranked player and owner of five major titles, including at the 2006 U.S. Open, will be participating in her first Grand Slam tournament in more than 1½ years. Sharapova has not entered a major tournament since the Australian Open in January 2016, when she tested positive for the newly banned drug meldonium.
That led to a 15-month doping ban, which expired in April.
The U.S. Open starts in Flushing Meadows on Aug. 28.
Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the second round of the Western & Southern Open with a 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-0 upset of 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych on Tuesday.
The 30th-ranked del Potro shook off a first-set loss, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the second set before settling for a win in the tiebreak, which he led 5-0 and clinched with an ace. He built on his momentum by rolling through the third set against the Wimbledon semifinalist, improving to 12-0 in first-round matches this season.
Berdych was playing his first match since withdrawing from last week's Rogers Cup in Montreal with a rib injury.
Ninth-seeded David Goffin became the first seeded man to be knocked out in Cincinnati, falling to Nick Kyrgios, 6-2, 6-3 in a first-round match. Kyrgios will meet qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round after Dolgopolov defeated Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (6).
In women's first-round action, Karen Khachanov beat Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, and Ashleigh Barty beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-4, 6-4 in a matchup of two qualifiers.
BAYLOR:
The first woman to sue Baylor University over allegations the nation's largest Baptist school ignored or mishandled rape allegations has settled her case. That's according to her attorney.
Jasmin Hernandez sued Baylor in early 2016, two months before the school released the results of an internal investigation that found Baylor had mishandled rape or assault cases for years and the football program acted as if it was "above the rules."
Baylor fired football coach Art Briles, demoted university President Ken Starr and reprimanded athletic director Ian McCaw in May 2016. Starr and McCaw later left the school.
Briles and McCaw were also named as defendants in the Hernandez lawsuit, but federal court records online show she asked a judge to release them from the case.
Hernandez's lawyer, Alexander Zalkin, told The Associated Press that Hernandez settled the case with all parties over the weekend, but declined to release details of any financial agreement. There was no settlement announcement in the online court records Tuesday night.
NFL:
The Philadelphia Eagles have released Ryan Mathews after the former Pro Bowl running back was cleared to return to football activities following neck surgery.
Mathews played two seasons with the Eagles after spending his first five years in San Diego. He had 1,200 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns for Philadelphia.
The move announced Tuesday was expected and saves the Eagles $4 million under the salary cap.
A statement from the team said: "We want to thank Ryan for his contributions to the Philadelphia Eagles over the past two seasons. We spoke today and had a productive conversation about his future and the direction of our team going forward. First and foremost, we are glad that Ryan is healthy and has been cleared to return to football activities, but given the current state of our running back position, we feel like it is best for both sides to go in a different direction. We wish him all the best as he continues his career."
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