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Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion Oct. 8, returned Saturday to start against SMU.

Bryant, who suffered the injury late in the game against South Florida and was replaced by Evan Prater, had returned to practice after a bye week under the school’s concussion protocols.

No. 21 Cincinnati (5-1) carries an 18-game American Athletic Conference winning streak into Saturday’s game against SMU (noon, ESPN). The Bearcats have bounced back after losing the opener at Arkansas.

Bryant will be aided by the return of tailback Corey Kiner, the LSU transfer who missed the USF game with a hand injury. Kiner is the team’s second-leading rusher, averaging 4.9 yards per carry with five touchdowns this season.

The Bearcats receiving corps will also get a boost with the return of redshirt freshman Will Pauling from a knee injury. He started the opener at Arkansas and had six catches in Cincinnati’s first two games before suffering the injury.

Tyler Scott, the Bearcats’ leading receiver, will not play after being a game-time decision with an ankle injury. He has 500 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns this season.

In coordinator Gino Guidugli’s offense, Bryant has led Cincinnati’s offense to a breakout season at 38.2 points per game. That’s a higher output than the Bearcats have averaged at any other point in Luke Fickell’s tenure at Cincinnati, including last year’s College Football Playoff run when they scored 36.4 points per game.

The Bearcats have 19 plays from scrimmage of more than 30 yards in their six games. That trends higher than the 33 plays of 30-plus yards in 14 games last season.

Bryant has thrown 15 touchdown passes, had six passes intercepted and completed 65.9% of his passes for 1,561 yards through six games. He’s on a better statistical track than Desmond Ridder, who led Cincinnati’s run to the College Football Playoff in 2021 with 30 touchdowns and 3,334 yards.

Bryant beat out Prater, one of the most highly regarded recruits in school history, for the starting job this summer after transferring back to Cincinnati from a one-year cameo at Eastern Michigan.

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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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