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DETROIT — The Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens played in front of 14,288 fans Sunday night, setting an attendance record for a professional women’s hockey game in the United States.

“It’s another extremely, big win for the sport globally,” Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said after the Sirens’ 4-1 win. “It’s important to tip our hockey helmet to Detroit.”

The Professional Women’s Hockey League game broke the mark as part of its Takeover Tour of potential expansion venues at Little Caesars Arena, a year after 13,736 fans watched women on the same sheet of ice at the home of the Detroit Red Wings.

Denver drew 14,018 fans to set the previous U.S. record two months ago in another neutral-site game featuring the Frost and the Montreal Victoire.

The world attendance record for a women’s hockey was set nearly a year ago when 21,105 people were in the stands for a PWHL game between Montreal and Toronto in the NHL Canadiens‘ arena.

The largest crowd to watch a women’s hockey game in the U.S. was set in 2017 when 15,359 attended St. Cloud State’s game at Wisconsin. In 2022 in Seattle, 14,551 fans watched the U.S. women’s national team beat Canada.

During the first period of the Frost-Sirens game, the PWHL announced more than 1 million fans have attended games since the league made its debut last season. Players from both teams gave fans in the stands pucks that commemorated the milestone.

The six-team league is averaging more than 7,000 fans a game after drawing 5,500 fans a game during the regular season last year.

St. Louis is hosting the ninth and final stop of the Takeover Tour on March 29 when the Ottawa Charge face the Boston Fleet with a little more than a month left in the regular season.

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

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White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

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White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

The Chicago White Sox reinstated outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.

He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.

In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.

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