A Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate has apologized and deleted a tweet mocking former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

A day after Nike recalled a sneaker that featured an early American flag at Kaepernick's urging, the Double-A Tennessee Smokies drew the 13-star symbol on their infield Wednesday and tweeted images of it.

"Hey @Kaepernick7 after a lot of thought, we have decided it's best to just do it. #America," the tweet said.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Kaepernick aired concerns to Nike over the release of the Air Max 1 USAs and its use of the Betsy Ross flag, which he said recalls an era when African-Americans were enslaved and has been appropriated by white nationalist groups. Nike recalled the shoe before it was due to go on sale for the July Fourth holiday.

Connor Pearce, marketing and community relations manager for the Smokies, told the AP on Wednesday night that "it was just a light-hearted take on a current situation."

The team then deleted the tweet, saying "we did not mean to offend anyone by it. If it did, we certainly apologize."

Portland Trail Blazers restricted free-agent forward Jake Layman has agreed to a three-year, $11.5 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports told ESPN.

The deal will be part of a sign-and-trade that the Blazers agreed upon to accommodate Layman's desire to join the Timberwolves. Minnesota had the ability to sign Layman to an offer sheet, and Portland's president of basketball operations allowed Layman the chance to join the Wolves without the aggravation of that process.

Layman's future with the Blazers had become uncertain given the franchise's trade for Kent Bazemore, re-signing of Rodney Hood and drafting of North Carolina's Nassir Little.

"We're extremely appreciative of how hard [Portland president of basketball operations) Neil Olshey worked with us to accommodate what we were trying to accomplish in sign and trade," Bartelstein told ESPN. "The deal couldn't have happened without the Blazers looking out for Jake's best interests."

In general these are accommodations that teams will make to validate their mantras that they're indeed 'player-first' organizations, especially for homegrown and well-regarded organizational players like Layman. Seven years ago, Olshey made a similar gesture with Indiana, which planned to match a four-year, $58 million offer sheet that Portland was preparing for restricted free agent Roy Hibbert.

Ultimately, Olshey let former Indiana GM Donnie Walsh simply re-sign Hibbert to spare the two teams the acrimony that comes with offer sheets.

Minnesota was able to absorb Layman into part of a trade exception created with the draft night deal that sent Dario Saric to the Phoenix Suns.

Under new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, the Timberwolves have added Layman, No. 6 overall pick Jarrett Culver of Texas Tech, and free agent Noah Vonleh to the roster this offseason. Layman joins former Blazers assistant David Vanterpool, the new Timberwolves associate head coach, in Minnesota.

The Los Angeles Angels will honor Tyler Skaggs by wearing a patch with the pitcher's No. 45 on their uniforms for the rest of the season.

Skaggs, a much-loved member of the team, was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Texas on Monday. A cause of death has not been determined, but police say they do not suspect suicide or foul play.

On Tuesday night, when the Angels returned to play after postponing Monday's game against the Texas Rangers, they wore a black, encircled patch with No. 45 above the heart on their uniforms. The No. 45 was painted on the back of the mound at Globe Life Park in Arlington, and Angels pitchers Andrew Heaney and Cam Bedrosian held up Skaggs' No. 45 jersey pregame, during a moment of silence for him.

The team tweeted out a photo on Wednesday of the patch that will be worn the rest of the season.

For the remainder of the season, we will wear this patch to honor Tyler Skaggs. pic.twitter.com/x3PAoVdUdJ

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 3, 2019

"We lost a teammate, we lost a friend, a brother," All-Star Mike Trout, a close friend, told reporters after Tuesday's game. "To lose somebody like him, it's tough. My first at-bat, I get up there, all I do is think about him.

"It's bigger than the game. The friendship and love I had for him and his family, it's more than that."

With the team out of town, fans went to Angel Stadium, where they left flowers, hats, baseballs, signs, photos and other memorabilia in a makeshift memorial mound.

Cincinnati Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett left Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers with left groin tightness, the Reds announced.

Gennett was activated from the injured list last week after recovering from a severe right groin injury suffered during spring training. He is 2-for-19 with a pair of singles in five games.

He flied out and struck out on Wednesday against Jhoulys Chacin, then left the contest an inning later.

The Reds have sorely missed Gennett, who had 50 homers and 189 RBIs over the past two seasons. He was an All-Star for the first time last year, when he finished second to Milwaukee's Christian Yelich (.326) for the National League batting title at .310.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON -- Stephen Strasburg was so filthy, he was immaculate.

On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals hurler threw an "immaculate inning" against the Miami Marlins.

In the top of the fourth, Strasburg struck out the side on nine pitches, all of which were strikes. He got Garrett Cooper looking and Neil Walker swinging, then caught Starlin Castro looking to finish the job. During the frame, Strasburg threw five fastballs, three changeups and one curveball.

Strasburg's immaculate inning was the first of his career and the fourth in Nationals history. Max Scherzer has accomplished the feat twice, and Jordan Zimmermann had done it once.

According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Strasburg is the fourth pitcher to work a perfect frame this season, joining the Boston Red Sox's Chris Sale (twice), Toronto Blue Jays' Thomas Pannone and Milwaukee Brewers' Josh Hader.

There were four immaculate innings thrown during the 2018 season.

Success against the Marlins is nothing new for Strasburg. In his past 10 starts against Miami entering Wednesday, the 30-year-old righty was 9-0 with a 1.64 ERA.

Through five scoreless innings on Wednesday, Strasburg had recorded 10 strikeouts.

NEW YORK -- Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres continues to be an American League All-Star Game snub, and his manager is extremely upset about it.

"It's a joke that he's not on that team," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before his team's Subway Series meeting with the crosstown New York Mets on Wednesday. "Gleyber Torres not an All-Star? You can kick rocks on that one. That's ridiculous."

Torres, who appeared in his first All-Star Game last year as part of a strong rookie season, still remains off this year's team despite other infielders being recently added to it as injury replacements.

Earlier Wednesday, Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts and Minnesota Twins pitcher Jose Berrios were the three additions that the AL team made to account for injuries to players previously voted into the game.

Notably, Lowe replaced Angels infielder Tommy La Stella, who broke his right tibia Tuesday night when he fouled a ball off his shin. Lowe also suffered a leg bruise in his own game for Tampa Bay on Tuesday and is considered day-to-day.

Although there still is a chance Torres gets added to the AL's roster with the possibility of other currently unforeseen injuries, Boone believes his middle infielder is more than deserving of being in the Midsummer Classic lineup.

"He's been unbelievable for us," Boone said. "First-place club, the offensive consistency he's had, the power, the on-base, the playing both positions in the middle infield. Yeah, it doesn't seem right to me that he isn't on that team."

Torres entered Wednesday batting .295 with 19 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .907 OPS. In the field, he has played both second base and shortstop this season. He played the latter until mid-May, when Didi Gregorius finally returned from his rehab following offseason Tommy John surgery.

Since Gregorius' return, Torres has been at second base, helping form a tandem that has pulled off its share of stupefying double plays.

"Look, I know there's all kind of players and coaches vote and fan voting, and sometimes that ends a few weeks ago, and obviously every team needs to be represented," Boone said. "I understand there's a lot of moving parts that make [voting players into the game] difficult, and ultimately every year you're going to have guys that are certainly deserving that don't get in that game.

"But the Gleyber one is one of those that's a head-scratcher for me."

Rivalries in sport are more often than not, just that - sporting rivalries.

Off the field of play, athletes are civil, courteous and even in some cases, mates.

However, the antagonism between 18-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal and the so-called "bad boy of tennis", Nick Kyrgios, seems to go a little deeper.

The pair will face each other in the second round at Wimbledon on Thursday in the must-watch tie of the men's draw so far (and the third match on Centre Court).

But where did the rivalry come from, and why do these men really not get on?

A rivalry is born

Back in 2014 at Wimbledon, Nadal faced the fresh-faced and a little gangly 19-year-old Kyrgios in the last 16.

The Australian was already gaining his 'swaggering showman' reputation and had earned a wildcard spot at the tournament.

Ranked 144 in the world, Kyrgios stunned the Centre Court crowd hitting a staggering 37 aces, and became the first man outside the top 100 to beat a world number one at a Grand Slam since 1992.

The Aussie even pulled off the precocious 'hot-dog' lob, on his way to defeating Nadal 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Now, we may be making assumptions here, but that particular move - humiliating the great Nadal, and showing little regard for his then 14 Grand Slam titles - was perhaps what set off the chain reaction for their future rivalry.

After bursting onto the scene in that entertaining style, Kyrgios has faced Nadal five times since.

The wins have been shared equally between the two men but controversy just keeps on coming.

A Mexican stand-off

The latest was down in Acapulco in February 2019, where Nadal was incensed by Kyrgios' cheeky underarm serving.

After their second-round match at the Mexico Open, in which Kyrgios beat Nadal 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, Nadal accused Kyrgios of lacking respect.

"He is a player who has enormous talent," said Nadal having played his part in what appeared to be a frosty handshake with his opponent at the net.

"He could win grand slams and fight the top positions of the ranking, but there is a reason why he is where he is [then at a world ranking of No. 72]."

Ouch.

After the match, Kyrgios provided further evidence that he sees the Spaniard as his bitter adversary in a hostile Instagram post, showing the video of said frosty handshake.

"Don't doubt yourself, there are plenty of people who will do that for you. I can smell the blood when I play this dude", he wrote.

During a 'No Challenges Remaining' podcast interview published a few weeks later, Kyrgios also had this to say about the two-time Wimbledon winner:

"He's my polar opposite. Literally my polar opposite. And he's super salty.

"When he wins it's fine, he won't say anything bad, he'll credit the opponent - 'he competed well today, he's a great player' - but then as soon as I beat him, it's just like 'he has no respect for me, my fans and no respect to the game'. I'm like 'what are you talking about? I literally played this way that I beat you the other previous times and nothing changed'."

Polar opposites?

Nobody can argue the players have opposing temperaments - Nadal's measured, clinical and perfectionist ways seem the polar opposite to Kyrgios' unpredictability - not to mention his trademark short fuse.

Already in 2019, Kyrgios has had to hand over a few chunks of his earnings in the form of fines.

During the second round of the Italian Open, he was in the deciding set when he was given a game penalty, reportedly for swearing.

He then kicked a bottle, threw down his racquet, hurled a chair on the court, picked up his bag and walked off.

He was fined 20,000 euros (£17,461) for unsportsmanlike conduct and also lost his prize money.

Just a few weeks ago at Queens Club, he was once again fined £13,766 ($17,500) for unsportsmanlike conduct.

He accused a line judge of "rigging the game" and mocked the chair umpire for his headgear.

"It's a joke, man. It's a serious joke," he said. "Like your hat looks ridiculous, also. It's not even sunny."

Frenemies reunited

Kyrgios told the press he had been looking forward to this match-up since the draw was made last week.

"I was super happy that I saw him in my section. When you're a kid, you want to play the best players in the world on the best court in the world."

Nadal however, was a little less than pleased with the All England Club's draw policy, which takes into account player's performances on grass, as opposed to following the world rankings.

The world number two, who is seeded third behind Roger Federer (world number three), has said it "doesn't seem fair" as it means he has a tougher run to the final.

Asked in his post-match news conference on Tuesday, if he had a "good relationship" with Nadal, Kyrgios said: "Uhm, not sure that me and Rafa could go down to the Dog & Fox (a pub in Wimbledon Village) and have a beer together."

"I don't know him at all. I know him as a tennis player. I just don't - no, I don't know him very well."

Asked if he found it easier to talk to other players on tour, he added: "Yeah, 100%. That's just how it is. I get along with people, some people I don't get along with. We have a mutual respect and that's about it I think."

We will have to wait and see how "mutual" that is when they face each other on Thursday.