Chicago Sports

TORONTO — It’s to the point where the White Sox and their non-threatening lineup are just trying to keep their heads above water on this road trip against two tough American League East teams.

But the Sox aren’t even doing a good job of that.

Their 8-3 loss to the streaking Blue Jays Thursday afternoon at Rogers Centre capped a three-game series sweep for Toronto, which won for the eighth time in a row.

The Sox fell to 23-26, losing for the sixth time in eight games. They started the day tied with Cleveland for second in the AL Central and trail the Twins by 4 1/2 games. The Sox are banged up with numerous core players injured, and the feeling on the coaching staff and in the clubhouse is that better results are ahead.

They also know they can’t afford to let themselves get buried in June. A series at the Rays is next, followed by the Dodgers at home.

After being dominated by early season Cy Young contender Alek Manoah for seven innings Thursday, the Sox made a game of it in the eighth, cutting a 4-0 deficit to 4-3 on Luis Robert’s two-run double with two out in the eighth and Yoan Moncada’s RBI single.

But it was brief. The Jays responded with four runs in the eighth against Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer to make it 8-3, putting the game on ice.

The Sox had one good early shot against Manoah, and that was in the first inning when Leury Garcia and Robert opened the game with singles. Moncada, starting for the first time in eight days, popped out on the first pitch and Jose Abreu struck out on a slider beneath the strike zone. After Gavin Sheets walked to load the bases, Yasmani Grandal struck out looking to end the inning.

Grandal’s strikeout started a streak of 16 batters retired in a row by Manoah, who allowed three runs over 7 2/3 innings.

Sox veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto, in his fourth start, allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. The unearned run, the first run of the game, scored in the third when Raimel Tapia doubled and advanced to third onr right fielder Gavin Sheets’ throwing error on a toss that bounced through shortstop Garcia.

After Bradley Zimmer was hit by a Cueto pitch, Tapia scored when Santiago Espinal bounced into a double play. Tapia scored the second run on Espinal’s double in the fifth, and Teoscar Hernandez’ two-run homer in the sixth put the Sox in a 4-0 hole.

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A U.S. marshal and his K-9 dog were hit by gunfire during a shootout between police and two gunmen on the Northwest Side Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The two shooters were arrested, Chicago police spokesman Tom Ahern said in a text message.

The shooting happened around 1:20 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Belmont Avenue, and the marshal rushed the K-9 to the MedVet Chicago clinic about 3 miles east near Belmont and California avenues, Chicago Fire Department Larry Langford said.

The marshal then realized he had been shot in his hand and called for an ambulance, Langford said. Paramedics were en route around 2 p.m., he said.

The condition of the dog and officer, and further details about the shooting were not immediately released.

On Wednesday, a Chicago police officer was shot and seriously wounded while trying to make a traffic stop in Englewood on the South Side. The gunman, who has been identified by police, remains at large.

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Steve Stone announced his retirement from baseball on June 2, 1982, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The former Orioles right-hander, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1980, had been hampered by tendinitis in his elbow and shoulder. In the news conference, an emotional Stone lamented that his age, then 34, and the low success rate of surgery made the decision for him.

Afterward, a team secretary approached him with two phone messages. One was from David Hartman, the host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” who wanted Stone to appear on the show. The other was from Chuck Howard, an executive at ABC Sports.

The secretary told Stone to call Howard first. “I think he has a job for you,” she said.

Sure enough, Howard offered Stone the chance to join the “Monday Night Baseball” booth for three games. But the first would be a Cardinals-Expos game in Montreal in five days, and Stone hadn’t been in the National League in six years. Howard asked if he’d be comfortable with the assignment.

“Chuck, I’ll do Japanese baseball,” Stone said. “Just put me on the air.”

Tuesday will mark the 40th anniversary of Stone’s first baseball broadcast. That night, he’ll be in the White Sox’ TV booth with Jason Benetti for the game against the Dodgers at Guaranteed Rate Field. But on June 7, 1982, he sat with Al Michaels and Don Drysdale in the Olympic Stadium booth for the season premiere of “Monday Night Baseball.” (It was the B game behind Athletics-White Sox at Comiskey Park.)

“I knew that two months out of baseball, it was going to be ‘Steve who?’ ” Stone said recently. “That was my shot. I had never had the headset on; I had never thought about doing a game. But I figured worse comes to worst, I look like an idiot in front of 30 million people, and then I go home after three games. But it didn’t work out that way. I’m still here.”

Michaels wasn’t surprised that Stone joined him shortly after retiring. Television titan Roone Arledge was running ABC, and Michaels said it was typical of Arledge to bring in someone topical. In the late 1970s, he put Mark Fidrych in the booth while the Tigers pitcher was on the disabled list. “The Bird” had become a celebrity with his success and quirky antics, but it didn’t translate to the broadcast.

“He’d never been in a broadcast booth in his life, and I’m on the air with him,” Michaels said. “He had no idea what he was doing. What I remember about Steve is that he was not fazed by anything. He seemed to be very comfortable right off the bat.”

Stone, 74, attributes his broadcast career to his Cy Young season, when he had a 14-game winning streak en route to a 25-7 record. He said if not for that year, ABC executives never would have heard him in interviews, in which he sounded cogent and capable of speaking on the air.

“They knew I could get the sentences out; they knew I had something to say,” Stone said. “I don’t know what prompted them to give me a call. I do know that I was the biggest name who was retiring in the middle of that season. I might’ve been one of the only, but I certainly was the biggest.”

“Steve parlayed one unbelievably fantastic year into a 40-year broadcasting career,” Michaels said. “If you look at the rest of Steve’s career, it’s workmanlike. But he had that one year, pretty much like Fidrych. You look at all of Steve’s numbers, and you go, ‘What?’ ”

Stone also caught the attention of the Cubs, who were looking for a partner for Harry Caray on WGN TV. Word of the search spread, and Stone recalls the team having to weather a Sun-Times poll that asked fans to choose from the incumbent radio duo of Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd, Tony Kubek and Stone.

“It was like 98% Vince and Lou,” Stone said. “They’re wonderful guys.”

But the team chose Stone, who played for the Cubs from 1974 to ’76, sandwiched between stints with the White Sox in 1973 and 1977-78. Other opportunities came Stone’s way while he was at WGN, including TV analyst jobs with the Yankees and Angels, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Chicago.

Former WGN Radio boss Dan Fabian even tried to pilfer Stone, offering him the Cubs’ lead play-by-play job.

“I thought about it for a couple of weeks, and I said to him, ‘I really think this Harry and Steve thing is going pretty well,’ ” Stone said. ” ‘I think I want to play this out and see where it goes.’ “

It ended up going very well and very far. But it all began June 7, 1982, in Montreal.

“Working with Al Michaels was a dream,” Stone said. “The six guys who worked [at ABC], it was like the Hall of the Hall of broadcasters. The two play-by-play guys were Al Michaels and Keith Jackson, and the four analysts were Don Drysdale, Bob Uecker, Howard Cosell and me. First-time broadcaster with those five guys. That was a great learning experience.”

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TORONTO — Yasmani Grandal had an awful first two months of the season at the plate.

A middle of the lineup bat who should be carrying his weight while the Sox play through a rash of injuries, Grandal knows he’s not.

“It will get anybody frustrated when you’re not able to do what you know you can do,” Grandal told the Sun-Times Thursday.

The Sox (23-25) have missed a slew of games from Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert, Andrew Vaughn, AJ Pollock and now Tim Anderson because of injury and illness and have one of the worst offenses in the majors, something no one saw coming. Grandal played in his 43rd game but he’s hitting a dreadful .163/.271/.218. with two homers.

Grandal’s swing has looked a bit long, and he’s been late on hard stuff from pitchers, which he attributes to his legs not being at full strength. Grandal had knee surgery July 5 to repair a torn tendon and a cleanup procedure after the season.

“[Not] being able to fire with the lower half,” Grandal said before out to take batting practice before Wedenesday’s series finale against the Blue Jays. “Hopefully it starts coming along.”

Grandal struck out looking with the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning against Alek Manoah (5-1, 1.77 ERA).

“It’s not so much about cage work, it’s more about weight room more than anything, to get the strength I need back in my legs so that I can use them the way I should be using them,” Grandal said. “That sounds pretty simple but it’s actually much harder than it is. I’ve been feeling better and better, the strength has gone up, which is huge. So hopefully things change a little bit in the coming weeks.”

While going through physical therapy for his knee during the offseason, Grandal said he was told it usually takes from six to eight months to regain full strength.

How bad has it been? Grandal’s .488 OPS ranks 162nd, or dead last, among qualified hitters. The 161st ranked player is Rangers $175 million free agent Marcus Semien, which goes to show that odd stuff happens. Grandal signed the richest contract in Sox history, $73 million for four years before the 2020 season.

“I look back to last year, he got off to a slow start and after his injury he came back really strong,” said Sox coach Jerry Narron, who works with catchers. “Over 162 games you’re going to seek your level. So at some point he’s going to get hot. It’s just a matter of when.

“Yas is going to hit. We like seeing Yas come up to bat. We feel like something has a chance to happen and at any point it’s going to click and he’s going to get it going. He’s one of those guys who can put up big numbers real quick.”

NOTE: The Sox will take a two-hour bus ride to Buffalo after their game Wednesday for the flight to St. Petersburg, Fla., for their series against the Rays. Crossing the border on ground avoids having to show negative results of COVID tests and the risk of leaving anyone behind. Other teams leaving Toronto have done the same thing.

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A U.S. marshal and his K-9 dog were hit by gunfire during a shootout between police and two gunmen on the Northwest Side Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The two shooters were arrested, Chicago police spokesman Tom Ahern said in a text message.

The shooting happened around 1:20 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Belmont Avenue, and the marshal rushed the K-9 to the MedVet Chicago clinic about 3 miles east near Belmont and California avenues, Chicago Fire Department Larry Langford said.

The marshal then realized he had been shot in his hand and called for an ambulance, Langford said. Paramedics were en route around 2 p.m., he said.

The condition of the dog and officer, and further details about the shooting were not immediately released.

On Wednesday, a Chicago police officer was shot and seriously wounded while trying to make a traffic stop in Englewood on the South Side. The gunman, who has been identified by police, remains at large.

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As published in the Chicago Daily News, sister publication of the Chicago Sun-Times:

Even before the curtain went up on the tryout performances of “Kicks & Co.” in 1961, Chicago Daily News columnist Tony Weitzel predicted the show’s creator, Chicago-born Oscar Brown Jr., would have “a smash hit right from the start.”

Brown, who died this week on May 29, 2005, may be best known as a songwriter, with many of his songs recorded by other stars such as Mahalia Jackson. But he also wrote books, music and lyrics for a number of original stage productions. In October 1961, all eyes in the city turned to the Aria Crown McCormick Place Theater, where his first production, “Kicks & Co.,” debuted to see what else this homegrown talent could do.

By this point in his career, Brown had released his debut album, “Sin & Soul,” the previous year through Columbia Records. The record included some of his best-known work, according to the Brown family’s official website. He’d collaborated with Max Roach on “We Insist: Freedom Now Suite,” one of the first jazz albums that incorporated social commentary into its songs.

But many Black Chicagoans knew Brown as “America’s first Negro Newscaster,” as he hosted the country’s first Black news radio broadcast in 1944. They also knew him from his radio acting days on “Destination Freedom,” which aired in 1948.

“Kicks & Co.” would be the first major musical to open in Chicago first before heading to Broadway in 35 years, according to a Sept. 12, 1961, Weitzel column. The show, a modern take on the classic Faust legend, follows Mephistopheles-like Mr. Kicks (Burgess Meredith) on a college campus in the South as he attempts to woo a Black student activist (Lonnie Sattin) away from his important work and into a career in rock n’ roll. Fellow Chicagoan Lorraine Hansbury, a recent success on Broadway at the time, provided stage direction and production support. It attracted big stars to the city, including Sammy Davis Jr. and Steve Allen.

The show started previews in late September, and after Weitzel reported a brief postponement so the cast could make some last-minute adjustments on Oct. 9, it debuted on Oct. 11. Although Daily News critic Sydney J. Harris wanted to call Brown’s work “a rousing success,” he instead reported that the show had “pathetically little to recommend it,” he wrote on Oct. 12.

“Apart from a few rhythmic tunes, a couple of sprightly ensemble dances and one or two pert or poignant scenes, this strange melange of a musical is much like Leacock’s horseman who mounted his steed and rode off in all directions at once.”

The problem with the show, Harris explained, “seems to be the lack of a unified taste,” adding that it tried to be too many things at once. The cast also needed work as Sattin and female lead Nichelle Nichols showed promise but neither had yet to reach “sufficient presence as a performer.”

And despite Meredith’s long track record as a highly trained actor, his devil-like Mr. Kicks “is precious and coyly mannered; at any moment I expected him to fly out of the scenery, like Peter Pan,” Harris said.

He also called Brown a “gifted composed,” but added that his lyrics were “often strained or obvious” and his work as a librettist needed further development.

“The earnest, hard-working group who have labored so long and lovingly on ‘Kicks & Co.’ simply cannot measure up to the mark,” the critic concluded.

For all the hype and delays, “Kicks & Co.” lasted just four performance, Weitzel reported several days later. It may have closed, but Brown’s career continued with many other highs to come.

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Few people have done more to shatter glass ceilings in the symphonic world than Marin Alsop, the first woman conductor to lead a major orchestra in the United States. Given her pioneering history, she seems well positioned to lead “Breaking Barriers,” a July 29-31 mini-festival at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park where she serves as chief conductor and curator.

“Repertoire is opening up,” Alsop said. “Opportunities are opening up — finally — in our industry, and we’d like to amplify that and shine a spotlight on it. The idea is really to give voice to people who haven’t had a voice.”

For this first installment of what Alsop hopes will become an annual event, the focus is on women who were largely shut out of the conducting world until five years ago or so, and the rise of the #MeToo movement.

“Breaking Barriers: Women on the Podium” is inspired in part by the 100th anniversary last year of the birth of Margaret Hillis, the founder and longtime leader of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In addition, 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, which provides coaching and other career support for emerging female conductors.

Current Taki Fellow Anna Duczmal-Mr?z and Taki alumnae Laura Jackson and Jeri Lynne Johnson will join Alsop for a Chicago Symphony Orchestra program July 29 that includes Michael Daugherty’s “Time Machine” (2003) for three conductors and orchestra and “Source Code” by CSO composer-in-residence Jessie Montgomery.

The mini-festival (breakingbarriers.ravinia.org) will incorporate three other concerts, including one on July 31 with genre-busting bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding, a symposium July 30 led by former Sun-Times music critic Wynne Delacoma, and an assortment of other events.

Here is a look at 10 other events worth checking out this summer:

June 8, 10 and 11: North Shore Chamber Music Festival, Village Presbyterian Church, 1300 Shermer Road, Northbrook (nscmf.org). Although not as big or flashy as some of its larger counterparts, this spunky festival can always be counted on for top-level artistic talent and creative programming. A highlight of the opening concert is the world premiere of “The Ghost of Kyiv” by young Ukrainian composer and clarinetist Dmytro Kyryliv, a 2022 recipient of the festival’s Arkady Fomin Scholarship.June 12: Rembrandt Chamber Musicians, Chee-Yun, violin, Jonathan Gunn clarinet, Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston (rembrandtchambermusicians.org). Korean-born Chee-Yun won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1989 and has gone on to enjoy a successful international solo career. She will join five other participating musicians in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Sextet for Strings, “Souvenir de Florence.”Also on the program is “Souvenirs de Voyage” by Bernard Herrmann, who is best known for his evocative film music.

June 15: Grant Park Orchestra, Michelle Cann, piano, Carlos Kalmar, conductor, Grant Park Music Festival, Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph (grantparkmusicfestival.com). This downtown summer festival opens its 2022 season with a concert that features Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, which premiered in Chicago in 1934. The Black composer, who lived much of her life in the Windy City, fell into virtual obscurity after her death in 1953 because of prejudice related to her race and gender. The lost score for this work turned up at an auction in 2019, and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the first performance of this original version in 2021 with Cann at the keyboard.June 17 and 18: Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, Kalmar, conductor, Natalie Rose Richardson, poet and orator, Grant Park Music Festival (grantparkmusicfestival.com). The festival’s 2022 season features six world premieres including Mischa Zupko’s “Blue Matter,” which culminates this program. Zupko, a member of DePaul University’s music faculty, composed this work for chorus and orchestra, which celebrates Chicago’s diverse musical legacy and pays tribute to pianist and vocalist Ray Charles.July 16: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Marcus Roberts Trio, Marin Alsop, conductor, Ravinia Festival, 201 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park (ravinia.org). Esteemed jazz pianist and composer Marcus Roberts has written a kind of homage to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Concerto in F. He and his trio will join the Chicago Symphony for the Midwestern premiere of Rhapsody in D, which debuted in 2016 at the Seiji Ozawa Festival in Japan and has been performed in two other American cities.June 17-19, Joseph Bologne’s “L’amant anonyme (The Anonymous Lover),” Haymarket Opera Company, Craig Trompeter, conductor, Holtschneider Performance Center, DePaul University, 2330 N. Halsted (haymarketopera.org/chevalier). Bologne, who carried the title Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a prominent composer in 18th century France but was all but forgotten after his death in large part because of his race. He was born in the French-Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe, the son of a white plantation owner and an African woman enslaved by his wife. This is the Chicago premiere of his only surviving opera.June 23, 25 and 28: Giuseppe Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball),” Chicago Symphony, Riccardo Muti, conductor, Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan (cso.org).Muti’s concert performances of operatic masterworks have been among the highlights of his tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony. He culminates the orchestra’s 2021-22 season – his penultimate in his position — with just such a treatment of one of Verdi’s most popular and frequently performed operas.July 19: “French Wind Music,” Rush Hour Concerts, St. James Cathedral, 65 E Huron (imfchicago.org). This summer’s 13 installments of Rush Hour Concerts feature two works by 19th-century composer Louise Farrenc, whose music has been rediscovered and revived in recent years. This program will include her Sextet in C Minor (1852) performed by an ensemble that includes four members of the Chicago Symphony — French hornist David Griffin, flutist Jennifer Gunn, bassoonist Dennis Michel and principal oboist William Welte

Aug. 13 and 14: Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “La clemenza di Tito,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon, conductor, Ravinia Festival (ravinia.org). Similar to Riccardo Muti, Conlon, music director of the Los Angeles Opera, has devoted much of his career to opera. And just as Muti has brought memorable concert performances of full-length operas to Orchestra Hall, Conlon did the same as music director of the Ravinia Festival, and he returns as guest conductor for two more such offerings.Aug. 19 and 20: Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation,” Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, Kalmar, conductor, Grant Park Music Festival (grantparkmusicfestival.com). The festival concludes its 2022 edition with this choral masterwork, the best known of the two oratorios Haydn created late in his long life. Inspired by the Handel oratorios he heard during visits to England, the celebrated composer wrote this adaptation of the Book of Genesis in 1797-98. It was last presented at the festival in 2002.Read More

Las Vegas doesn’t like the Chicago Bears odds this season

One Las Vegas sportsbook predicts the Chicago Bears will have a bad season in 2022. Unfortunately, this consensus is not an anomaly. Many national analysts project the Bears to have a rough season ahead of them as well. Even with a favorable schedule, they’re unimpressed by the talent on the current roster. The loss of elite players like Khalil Mack and the lack of major moves to aid Justin Fields are typical complaints.

SuperBook at the Westgate Las Vegas has the Bears as the favorite in two games. The first as a favorite is week 3 versus Houston Texans at -3.5. The second is at home week 10 against the Detriot Lions at -2.5 as the spread. (On another note of interest, the Bears’ biggest spread as a dog is at +10 to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.)

Not good.

A two-win season seems low for the Bears

While I expect the Bears to have their fair share of struggles this season, two wins seem kind of low. The Bears are learning a new system with a new coaching staff this offseason. If the team can grow quickly, the Bears should be able to find a way to win at least a few games. It would be a bleak sign for the future if the Bears were only able to win two games this season.

Fields would more than likely not improve at all from last season, which would mean he’s likely a bust. The defense would probably not have any signs of competence. This would not bode well for new head coach Matt Eberflus whose specialty is to get the most out of the talent he has in defenses.

The Bears’ schedule has enough winnable games for them to get a few toss-ups. The Bears can easily snag games with the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, and the Philadelphia Eagles. If this team can’t beat any of these franchises, it might foreshadow a few more rough seasons for the Bears.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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Cubs rookie Christopher Morel took a deep breath before delivering a walk-off sacrifice fly Wednesday.

He said after the Cubs’ 4-3 extra-innings win that he was taking catcher Willson Contreras’ advice: “Hey, breathe, take your time.”

Morel had fouled off the first two pitches of the 10th-inning plate appearance. He watched a changeup that fell out of the strike zone. Then, he drove the fourth pitch to center field.

“I wanted to put the ball in play,” Morel said, “and [Jason] Heyward is a good runner. I trusted Heyward in this moment.”

The fly ball was deep enough for Jason Heyward to tag up at third and score.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “… Thank you God for this moment, my family, my country [the Dominican Republic], my city. And I’m so happy.”

Morel’s teammates ran out to greet him on the field, throwing water and cheering.

“He’s been coming through for us for a while now in a lot of different ways,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “He’s one of those guys you just can’t wait till he gets back up, the top of the lineup turns over, and he’s that spark.”

It’s felt like a while, but Morel has only been in the big-leagues for about two weeks.

Morel also extended his on-base streak to 15 games in the first inning Wednesday as he drew an eight-pitch walk. After advancing to second on a single from Contreras, Morel stole third and scored on the errant throw from Brewers catcher Omar Narvaez. That was the first first run of the game.

The night before, Morel had set the franchise record for the longest on-base streak to start a career.

“That’s awesome,” Contreras said when he learned Morel had broken the record Contreras set in 2016. “Morel brings the energy. He brings a lot of things to the table. What I like the most is that he’s never mad, he’s never concerned about anything. That’s one thing that lets him play the way he’s playing right now. He deserves to stay here.”

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In Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner’s first at-bat back from the injured list, he hit a clutch RBI single. In his first full game back, he homered. And he’s been on a roll since.

“It’s been nice to hit the ground running,” Hoerner said this week.

Hoerner has been a part of two trends for the Cubs in recent weeks: a wave of injuries and a wave of new energy.

Hoerner missed 12 games with a sprained ankle, which he sustained in a collision with an umpire. But when he returned a week ago, it was in between two series of Cubs call-ups and MLB debuts.

Players like Christopher Morel – who on Wednesday extended his on-base streak to 15 games, a Cubs record to start a career – have electrified the Cubs, who sit at No. 4 in the National League Central, only above the Reds.

Morel and outfielder Nelson Vel?zquez, who Cubs manager David Ross predicted would be a “big part” of the club’s construction of a future championship-caliber team, should be part of the Cubs’ long-term plans. Both debuted this year.

“Debuts are one of the best parts of our game,” Hoerner said. “Everyone who’s played at this level understands how much time and effort and people it takes to get to this point. So, congratulations to all those guys.”

With the excitement surrounding prospects’ potential, however, don’t forget the impact the development of players like Hoerner could have on the direction of the Cubs’ rebuild.

Serving as the Cubs’ everyday shortstop for the first time in his career, Hoerner has garnered praise from everyone from the front office, to the coaching staff, to middle infield mate Andrelton Simmons.

Is he the Cubs’ long-term solution at the position?

“It’s easy to say you can be a shortstop in the big leagues [in the] long term, but you also have to do it; you have to prove it,” Ross said last week. “Sixty games is a lot different than 162.”

The Cubs are giving him the chance to prove it. When Hoerner and Simmons, a four-time Gold Glove shortstop, share the field, Simmons slides over to second base.

“I just want to win,” Simmons said. “And my arm not feeling 100 [percent] makes it easier on me too. I was willing before I signed, and circumstances made the decision a little easier. And I’m OK with it.”

While he was on the IL, Hoerner said his focus was maintaining the momentum he’d felt before the injury.

“I thought I was in a strong place when I got hurt,” he said. “Just things coming together, not one thing in particular but just the whole game, which I’ve always taken pride in.”

When he came back, Hoerner continued to showcase his range and arm strength, even if he planted a little more gingerly on his back foot for a long throw or two early on.

And his offensive game turned heads.

Hoerner entered play Wednesday batting .333 with five RBI since coming back from the IL. That included two three-hit games, most recently hitting three singles against the Brewers in the early game of a doubleheader on Monday, driving in three runs in a 7-6 loss.

Hoerner, who hit .302 last season, has been known as a contact hitter. But he’s hitting the ball harder this year, his average exit velocity jumping from 86.5 to 89.8.

If Hoerner continues like this, he’ll be well on his way to proving his value as an everyday shortstop for years to come.

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