NEW YORK (AP) — An email from baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to union head Tony Clark led to a balk in the drawn-out talks to start the pandemic-delayed season, which now won’t begin by July 19. The executive committee of the players’ association was set to vote and reject Major League Baseball’s latest offer for a 60-game season. Players want 70 games and are worried that if the 2020 season is cut short, the deal being negotiated would lock in innovations for 2021. Manfred wrote that if fewer than the agreed-upon number of games are played, the 2021 changes would be voided.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Webb Simpson is a winner on Father’s Day again, just not at the U.S. Open. The father of five ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine in a 7-under 64 and won the RBC Heritage with a record score. Simpson won by one shot over Abraham Ancer. His score of 22-under 262 beats by two shots the tournament record set 11 years ago. Simpson won the U.S. Open in 2012 at Olympic Club. This was supposed to be U.S. Open week, but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed that until September. Simpson won for the second time this year.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Thunderstorms Sunday forced NASCAR to postpone the Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway that was to mark the return of more fans to the track. The race, which was pushed back to 2 p.m. CDT on Monday, is the first amid the coronavirus pandemic in which NASCAR opened the gates for up to 5,000 fans. The event was stopped several times for more than three hours of total delays.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — NASCAR says a noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace on Sunday at the NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama. Wallace is the only full-time Black driver in NASCAR’s elite Cup Series. Two weeks ago, he successfully pushed for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its tracks and properties. NASCAR says it has launched an immediate investigation into the noose. The series says it is “outraged” and says there is no place for racism in NASCAR.

UNDATED (AP) — Having secured a victory in the Belmont Stakes, Tiz the Law now faces an 11-week wait until the Kentucky Derby in a reconfigured Triple Crown series. In between, the bay colt, who became the first New York-bred to win the Belmont since 1882, is being pointed toward the Travers on Aug. 8 in upstate New York, which is his home turf. Tiz the Law has five wins in six career starts by an average of 19 1/4 lengths. His only loss came at Churchill Downs last year, and he’ll get a chance to avenge it over the same track in the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.