Baseball

Bryce Harper rallies to win home run derby — The ball cleared the center-field wall, and the sellout crowd roared. Bryce Harper threw his bat in the air, thrust both index fingers skyward and yelled with delight as a shower of streamers rained upon the crowd of 43,698 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. It could have been a scene from a playoff game. That it was merely the All-Star Home Run Derby mattered not to Harper or the Washington Nationals fans, who were thrilled to see their hometown hero deliver the night’s final long ball Monday night. With an exceptional display of power and clutch hitting, Harper rallied in the final round, connecting on pitches from his father to beat Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs 19-18. Harper hit the contest-winning blast in extra time, the reward for hitting two homers at least 440 feet during the 4 minutes of regulation time. After he connected with the contest winner, the Nationals star immediately went into celebration mode. Wearing a headband that resembled the District of Columbia flag and displaying a right sleeve with stars and stripes, Harper trailed 18-9 with 1:20 left before rallying. He homered on nine of his last 10 swings before entering extra time.

Basketball

Ex-Blazer Robin Jones dies — Robin Jones, a member of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 1977 NBA championship team, has died, NBA.com reported Monday. He was 64 when he died in Chicago. A lanky 6-foot-9 center and forward, Jones was affectionately known as “Rubberband Man.” In his lone season with the Blazers after signing as a free agent out of Saint Louis University in August 1976, Jones averaged 5.5 points per game playing behind stars Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas. He was traded later in 1977 to the Houston Rockets for Tom Owens and played only one more NBA season. When the Trail Blazers celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1977 championship team in 2017, Jones joined his former teammates at center court at the Moda Center despite being wheelchair-bound later in life.

76ers whiff in pursuit of Rockets’ GM — The Philadelphia 76ers have been rebuffed in an attempt to hire Houston’s Daryl Morey as their new general manager, according to two people familiar with the Sixers’ pursuit. The Sixers had strong interest in hiring Morey to replace the ousted Bryan Colangelo, but Morey could not be lured away from the franchise with which he has spent the past 12 seasons, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the situation. Morey was last month voted by his peers as the NBA’s executive of the year for the first time in the wake of Houston’s 65-win campaign. Morey’s acquisition of guard Chris Paul in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers in June 2017 helped establish the Rockets as the league’s primary threat to the dominance of the Golden State Warriors, who have won three championships in the past four seasons.

Football

Le’Veon Bell, Steelers fail to reach deal — Le’Veon Bell’s next season with the Pittsburgh Steelers will almost certainly be his last. The Pro Bowl running back and the defending AFC North champions failed to reach an agreement on a new contract by Monday’s deadline, meaning he will play under the franchise tag for a second straight year and hit the open market next spring. Bell tweeted that “both sides worked extremely hard” to try to find common ground but ultimately could not. The 26-year-old Bell is one of the league’s most versatile players and he has long maintained he wants to be paid accordingly. In addition to serving as a workhorse in the backfield — his 321 rushing attempts last season led the NFL — he also caught 85 passes, good enough for 10th in the league. Bell will make $14.5 million whenever he signs his franchise tender, which likely will not be until the end of training camp. It is the path Bell followed last summer after the Steelers placed the franchise tag on him for the first time.

Horse racing

Justify under observation after ankle injury — Triple Crown winner Justify has relocated to Del Mar, where trainer Bob Baffert is keeping him under observation after swelling in his left front ankle emerged two weeks ago. Baffert said Justify will probably just walk around the stable area for the next two weeks at the track north of San Diego. The probable scenario for the colt is a return to racing sometime in the fall with the ultimate goal being the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November. Justify has won all six starts in his brief career that began this year. He has won four straight Grade 1 races, including a sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont to become horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion. The colt has not had a workout since the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

hockey

Police: Former NHL goalie’s drowning not suspicious — Police say the drowning of former NHL goalie Ray Emery does not appear suspicious. The 35-year-old player, whose career spanned more than a decade, drowned in Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday. Police said he jumped off a boat near the Leander Boat Club to go swimming, and friends called emergency services at about 6 a.m. when he did not resurface. Inspector Marty Schulenberg calls it a “case of misadventure.” Schulenberg adds that Emery’s body was found at about 2:50 p.m. Sunday, about 20 yards from where he went into the water. He says first responders were not able to locate Emery right away so they called the dive unit. Emery played for Ottawa, Chicago and Philadelphia and won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013.

— From wire reports