Braves pitcher sorry for tweets

Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb apologized Sunday for racist, homophobic and sexist tweets he sent as a teenager, calling them “some stupid stuff.”

“I definitely regret it, for sure,” he said.

The 25-year-old Newcomb spoke less than an hour after nearly pitching a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The tweets were sent in 2011 and 2012.

“I just wanted to apologize for any insensitive material,” Newcomb said. “It was a long time ago, six or seven years ago, saying some stupid stuff with friends.”

“I know I’ve grown a lot since then. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just something stupid I did a long time ago and I didn’t mean anything by it, for sure,” he said.

Major League Baseball dealt with a similar situation this month involving Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader on the night he pitched in the All-Star Game.

“Such inappropriate comments have no place in our game. We are aware of this serious issue, Billy Bean will meet with Mr. Newcomb this week, and we will identify an appropriate course of diversity training for him in the Atlanta community,” MLB said in a statement.

Bean is MLB’s vice president for social responsibility and inclusion. He is a former big league outfielder and openly gay. ROCKIES SIGNS HOLLIDAY » The Colorado Rockies have signed former star outfielder Matt Holliday to a minor-league contract.

The 38-year-old Holliday reported to the Grand Junction Rockies, the organization’s Rookie level team on Sunday. He said the plan is to find his footing with the hope of joining the Rockies at some point this season.

“Getting my baseball legs back under me. We’ll see how the next few days go,” Holliday said in Grand Junction. “I’ll do some pregame stuff, take batting practice, do some pregame defense and we’ll see after that. Probably move on to Triple-A. Just see how fast I’m ready to take some at-bats and compete at a high level.”

Holliday hit .231 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs with the New York Yankees last season.

Golf

JOHNSON WINS IN CANADA » Top-ranked Dustin Johnson pulled away Sunday in the RBC Canadian Open for his third victory of the season and 19th on the PGA Tour.

Tied for third-round lead with Kevin Tway, Byeong Hun An and Whee Kim, Johnson shot a 6-under 66 for a threestroke victory over Kim and An. Johnson finished at 23-under 265, winning at Glen Abbey after finishing second in 2013 and 2016.

Kim and An each shot 69 in the round interrupted by a nearly 2-hour lightning delay.

Keegan Bradley had a 64 to finish fourth at 19 under. He shot 63 on Friday, but had a 73 on Saturday.

Mackenzie Hughes was the top Canadian, shooting a 68 to tie for eighth at 15 under.

Tway had a 76 to drop into a tie for 17th at 13 under.

He was trying to win his first PGA Tour title in the event where father Bob Tway won the last of his tour titles 15 years ago.

Auto racing

GAMBLE PAYS OFF AT MIDOHIO » Alexander Rossi took a gamble at MidOhio Sports Car Course in Lexington that paid off with his second IndyCar victory of the season and fourth overall.

Starting from the pole and using a twostop strategy while the rest of the field pitted three times, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner finished 12.8 seconds ahead of rookie Robert Wickens in the caution-free race on the 13turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course. The race covered 90 laps and 202.3 miles.

“It was a little concerning at times,” Rossi said. “Guys committed to doing it, but they bailed. (The strategy) worked.

“We didn’t know how it would work. Without a warm-up we were not capable of knowing the fuel mileage you’re getting.”

Will Power was third, 14.7 seconds back. Josef Newgarden was fourth, and points leader Scott Dixon fifth.