There was a lot of hard contact made on Wednesday at Target Field, by both the Twins and Kansas City Royals — the Royals a little harder.

Nelson Velazquez homered twice and drove in three runs as Kansas City rang up Twins right-hander Bailey Ober for six runs, plenty for Royals ace Seth Lugo in a 6-1 victory in front of an announced crowd of 18,130.

The Twins entered the game with six wins in their past seven games but lost ground to the second-place Royals in the American League Central Division.

Velazquez hit a two-run homer in a four-run third inning and added a solo homer in the fifth as the Royals gave themselves a chance to split this four-game series that concludes Thursday with a 12:10 first pitch.

Salvador Perez drove in a pair of runs with a double and a home run — partnering with Velazquez for fifth-inning solo shots — and Bobby Witt Jr. drove in Kansas City’s first run and later scored in the third.

The Twins got good wood on some of Lugo’s pitches but mostly sent them right at Royals outfielders. Lugo (9-1) was charged with one run on six hits and three walks in six innings, extending his major league-leading innings pitched to 82 and lowering his earned-run average to an MLB-best 1.72. He struck out five.

Ober (5-3) allowed six earned runs on nine hits, three of them homers that traveled a combined 1,262 feet. He didn’t walk a batter and fanned four.

The Twins put the first two batters on against Carlos Hernandez in the ninth — a single by Jose Miranda and walk to Manuel Margot — but Carlos Correa was robbed of a double on a liner to third baseman Maikel Garcia, and pinch hitter Byron Buxton struck out swinging. Max Kepler then popped out to second for the final out.

Miranda gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second inning, hitting a fly ball to the warning track in left that scored Willi Castro from third base. But it didn’t last long.

In the top of the third, No. 9 hitter Kyle Isbel singled sharply to left and moved to third on a groundout by Garcia. He tied the game when he scored from second on Witt’s bleeding single into right.

Perez doubled to left to bring home Witt for a 2-1 lead, and one out later scored on Velazquez’s homer into the bullpen in straightaway center. It traveled an estimated 437 feet — with an exit velocity of 109.3 mph — and made it 4-1 Royals.

In the fifth, Perez hit a no-doubt solo home run into the ’pen to make it 5-1, and after Adam Frazier grounded out to first, Velazquez hit a solo homer into the left field bleachers to make it 6-1.

Lugo, meanwhile, was cruising until the fifth inning, when Trevor Larnach led off with a single to left. Lugo got Correa to pop out to first, but Alex Kiriloff walked to put two on with one out. Kepler then worked a 12-pitch at-bat but struck out looking, and Ryan Jeffers flied out softly to left to end the threat.

Right-hander Diego Castillo made his Twins debut, pitching two scoreless innings in relief. He walked one and didn’t allow a hit. In fact, relievers Steven Okert, Castillo and Cole Sands combined to allow one hit in four scoreless innings.

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LOWELL, Mass. —  Kendall Coyne Schofield once showed off her speed racing against the men in an NHL skills competition at All-Star weekend.
On Wednesday night, she made a mad dash into women’s hockey history.

The three-time Olympian chased down a rolling puck and knocked it into an empty net to seal Minnesota’s 3-0 victory over Boston in the winner-take-all Game 5 to claim the inaugural championship of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Liz Schepers scored to break a scoreless, second-period tie, Michela Cava made it 2-0 midway through the third period and Nicole Hensley stopped 17 shots for Minnesota. Coyne Schofield added the empty netter with two minutes left, and then the captain and oldest member of the roster took the first lap on the ice with the Walter Cup.

“It makes me want to tear up thinking about it. She’s done so much for this sport,” said forward Taylor Heise, who was named the playoff MVP. “She’s definitely one of the people that’s helped this sport grow and one of the reasons why this arena is sold out here tonight.”

Three nights after prematurely celebrating a would-be game-winner in double overtime that was waved off for goaltender interference, Hensley earned her second shutout of the playoffs. The two-time Olympian from Colorado had posted one in 14 games during the regular season, when Minnesota limped into the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak.

“We’re ‘the State of Hockey,’” said Heise, who was the league’s No. 1 overall draft pick. “And I think this proves it.”

Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, dubbed the “Green Monster” in her forest green home sweater, made 41 saves for the runners-up. The sold-out crowd at the Tsongas Center, about an hour north of Boston, chanted her name and “Thank you, Boston!” after the final buzzer, even as the Minnesota players celebrated on the ice and league officials set up the podium for the trophy presentation.

Boston forced a decisive fifth game only after Sophie Jaques’ apparent goal in double overtime in Game 4 was taken off the board because of goaltender interference. The Minnesota players, who had already streamed onto the ice to celebrate, throwing their equipment in the air, gathered up their gloves and sticks, and the game resumed.

One minute later, Alina Muller scored to send the series back to Boston.

The crowd was eager to see the home team claim the new trophy, named for league benefactor and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, chanting “We want the Cup!” just like Bruins fans do down in Boston. A Fenway-style “Sweet Caroline” singalong kept them busy during the second break.

But with the game scoreless early in the second, Minnesota forward Sydney Brodt skated through the slot toward the goal. She whiffed on a wrist shot, drawing Frankel out of position, then slid around to the right side and centered the puck behind her, where Schepers tipped it in.

It was still 1-0 when Cava circled behind the net and stuffed the puck between Frankel’s pads; it trickled toward the net before the goalie knocked it over the line when she reached back to save it with her stick hand.

The game was a crowd-pleasing conclusion to the six-team league’s first season, when it blew through some benchmarks but left others unmet.

A game in Montreal against Toronto drew more than 21,000 fans to the Bell Centre. Average attendance in the regular season was 5,448, giving the league confidence to expand the schedule from 24 games to 30 next year. Toronto is looking for a bigger home than the 2,500-seat arena where it played most of its games.

One negative was below-average attendance for the New York team, which split its home between Connecticut, Long Island and New Jersey. Games were broadcast nationally in English and French in Canada, but U.S. fans were left with regional networks and YouTube.

And the teams don’t have nicknames yet — a result of the rush to get on the ice in six months after the two competing pro women’s hockey leagues in North America declared a truce, with help from Walter and tennis great Billie Jean King, last summer. The league said on Wednesday that names and logos will be announced in August.

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DULUTH, Minn. — The suspect accused of beating an 81-year-old man with a hammer in the restroom of a Duluth supermarket Friday has been charged.

Lance Alexander Tolbert, 43, of Duluth, Minn., was charged May 28, 2024, in St. Louis County District Court with using a hammer to assault an 81-year-old man in the restroom of a Duluth grocery store on May 24. (St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office via Forum News Service)

Lance Alexander Tolbert, 43, of Duluth, was charged Tuesday with premeditated first-degree attempted murder.

The criminal complaint alleges Tolbert stepped out of a Mount Royal Market men’s restroom stall around 8:50 a.m. and struck the back of the head of a man standing at the urinal. Tolbert reportedly continued the attack after the victim fell to the floor.

Duluth Police Department identified the victim as Bradley French and reported Tuesday he was in stable condition. The complaint said French continues to receive treatment, including surgery, for his injuries, including a skull fracture, cuts on his hands and scalp, a deep puncture wound on one arm, and a broken hand.

Police said French and Tolbert did not know each other.

During the attack, French “fought back” and managed to take the hammer from Tolbert, who had put his gloved fingers into French’s mouth, according to the complaint. The attack stopped when another person entered the restroom, prompting Tolbert to take the hammer and run from the store.

Tolbert was found 13 minutes later, the complaint said. Blood was found on his clothes, body, and on a hatchet attached to his belt. Tolbert was wearing winter boots, a black T-shirt, insulated camouflage overalls and protective shinpads.

The next day, police found Tolbert’s black hooded jacket and “a hammer covered in what appeared to be blood” in its pocket, according to the complaint.

In a letter Tuesday, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Anthony Rubin urged the judge not to consider any pretrial release because “the nature of this violence poses such an incredible threat to public safety.” Rubin recommended the court set Tolbert’s bail at $500,000.

“It is only due to grace and grit that the 81-year-old veteran who was surprise-attacked in a grocery store men’s restroom still pulls breath on this earth,” Rubin wrote.

According to the complaint, French had stopped in the restroom before shopping with a friend.

Tolbert remained lodged at the St. Louis County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. No bail was listed on the jail roster.

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The balance of the Western Conference Finals may very well rest on the shoulders – err, neck – of a 20-year-old rookie center.

That’s how much Dallas big man Dereck Lively II has meant to the Mavericks all season, but especially in this series.

“He’s an outstanding young player, big part of what they do,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “When they put those two bigs together, they just keep coming at you. A lot of size, a lot of bounce, a lot of activity and swallows up the rim. Yeah, no doubt they miss him.”

Lively has missed the last six quarters of the series with a sprained neck suffered when he took an inadvertent knee from Karl-Anthony Towns to the back of the head in the second quarter of Game 3.

With him sidelined, Minnesota roared back in the third quarter of Game 3 before dropping the game in crunch time. Then the Wolves won Game 4 to extend their season.

The ways in which Minnesota has achieved its success suggests it correlates with Lively’s absence.

The Wolves – specifically Anthony Edwards and Towns – found more of an offensive rhythm in Game 4. That seemed to start with having more success around the rim. Over the first two games of the series, Minnesota shot 47 percent inside eight feet. Over the past two games, that number has spiked to 65 percent.

Why? It relates specifically to Lively’s minutes, and who’s filling them. Because Minnesota is still struggling to produce on the interior when Daniel Gafford is in the game, but Gafford has been backed up by Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber – power forwards who are no threat to block shots.

When those two have played, the Wolves are 11 for 12 from inside eight feet, and are shooting 52 percent in that range when they’re not on the floor. Dallas is able to maintain constant rim protection when it can platoon Lively and Gafford together.

“When you don’t have that and Gafford’s not playing 48 minutes, there are spells where you can get downhill and get into the paint and try to finish and utilize that to our advantage,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said.

Lively’s absence is felt just as much on the offensive end. That’s where he’s superior to Gafford. Dallas is scoring a scorching 132.5 points per 100 possessions this series when Lively is on the floor. He’s 13 for 13 from the field and, just as importantly, has seven assists to just one turnover. He’s an elite lob threat, but also is a strong decision maker when he catches the ball out of the roll. Lively gives Dallas another legitimate offensive threat for which the Wolves have to account, which isn’t easy to do when Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are also on the floor.

Lively told Andscape his injury is a “day to day” thing that he’s not trying to rush. Dallas upgraded him to questionable for Game 5 on Thursday in Minneapolis after he was doubtful for Game 4. If the big man can return for the remainder of this series, the task of winning three more games is far more daunting for Minnesota.

“Yeah, he’s a big piece to our defense and offense,” Doncic said. “We miss him a lot.”

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