Chicago Sports

Stray bullets from a robbery during a drug deal wounded two people in the Loop over the weekend, including a stage hand who worked in the Theater District.

Hours after the shooting in an alley in the 100 block of North Wabash Street, a Sunday evening performance of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” was canceled at the Nederlander Theatre about two blocks away.

Both victims were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition, police said. Neither saw the shooter, who later ditched his jacket near the State/Lake Red Line stop, according to a police report.

The shooting apparently stemmed from a drug deal between two groups of people at a nearby Taco Bell, police said. An argument broke out and someone “implied a weapon” and robbed the others.

Both groups then ran south before the shooter opened fire, according to police, who said he may have been part of the group that was robbed.

Officers responded to a call of shots around 5 p.m. and found a shooting scene that extended into the alley in the first block of Benton Place, according to police reports.

Two stagehands who said they worked at the Nederlander told police they were walking east on Benton as two people were being chased the other way through the alley.One of the stagehands reported seeing someone fire at the two several times while running after them.

The other stagehand, a 55-year-old man from Elmhurst, was struck in the right ear, according to the reports. He told officers he was had just left the Chicago Theatre when he saw “a group of kids running” and he was shot.

A bartender from the Chicago Theatre told officers that he saw three males running through the alley when he heard a pair of “pops” and hid between trash cans, according to the reports. He then saw someone fire a handgun twice.

The second gunshot victim, a 27-year-old man from Gold Coast, was found with a wound to the hand, the reports state. He told officers he was walking with his girlfriend when he was struck.

No arrests were reported. Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan told reporters during a news conference that police were reviewing video on where “both groups went.”

The Sunday evening performance of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” at the Nederlander Theatre at 24 W. Randolph — about two blocks from the shooting — was canceled though the shooting wasn’t specifically given as the reason.

An official statement released to the media stated: “Due to an earlier disturbance in the Loop on Sunday afternoon, May 1, the evening performance of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” was cancelled. No other Broadway In Chicago productions were affected.”

Police said they deployed additional resources to the Theater District Sunday evening. “We will continue to monitor the area and work closely with the Cook County sheriff’s police to enhance safety in our Theater District,” the department said in a statement.

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Right-hander Dylan Cease took his game to another level Monday — allowing one hit over seven shutout innings, with no walks, 11 strikeouts and one hit batsman –to lead the White Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Angels before 13,112 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Cease (3-1) was in command from the start, retiring the first nine batters before allowing his lone hit — Taylor Ward’s hard-hit double that went over left-fielder AJ Pollock’s outstretched glove to lead off the fourth inning.

He matched a career high with the 11 strikeouts and struck out Mike Trout all three times he faced him. It was the 10th time Cease has struck out 10 or more batters in a game, tying him with Gary Peters and James Scott on the Sox’ all-time list of multiple double-digit strikeout games. He dropped his ERA to 2.84 for the season.

The victory gave the Sox (9-13) a split of their four-game series with the American League West-leading Angels (15-9) and was their third victory in six games following an eight-game losing streak. They open a two-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night

Pollock had an RBI ground out and Jake Burger a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first inning that gave the Sox a 2-0 lead. Adam Engel’s RBI double that scored Jose Abreu from first base made it 3-0 in the sixth inning.

Kendall Graveman pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Liam Hendriks pitched a 1-2-3 ninth — striking out Trout looking to end it –for his fifth save in six opportunities to clinch the victory.

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Less than four weeks ago, Cubs right-fielder Seiya Suzuki made his Major League Baseball debut. Now, he’s already hauling in Rookie of the Month honors for his performance in April.

“This is the best pitching in the world, and you would expect somebody to struggle just a little bit,” Cubs manager David Ross said earlier this month, after Suzuki’s first player of the week honors, “and inevitably every player does, but so far, the fact that he’s gotten off to such a great start and we’ve faced really good pitching has been impressive.”

Partial-season awards are one thing on their own, but in Suzuki’s case, they represent a hot start as he’d made the transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. And the qualities that the Cubs raved about when they signed Suzuki this spring to a five-year, $85 million contract — his power and sense of the strike zone — have been on display in the first month of the season.

Suzuki posted a .279/.404/.529 slash line last month with four home runs and 14 walks. He has one of the best April performances of any Cubs rookie all-time, ranked No. 4 in OPS (.934) and tied for No. 2 in extra-base hits (nine).

The award also positions Suzuki, a five-time All-Star in NPB, as the early frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year.

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The Chicago Bears had a busy day three of the 2022 NFL Draft. One pick is grabbing the attention of the national media.

After being silent on day one, and picking what was on their board on day two, new general manager Ryan Poles spent Saturday making moves by trading picks for extra picks, bringing the Bears to 11 total selections.

During round 5, the Bears took beefy offensive tackle Braxton Jones, Southern Utah, with the 168th pick.

Robert Zeglinksi writes:

“At this point in the draft, it’s all about taking guys with high ceilings. Few of the prospects available on Day 3 have more appealing raw tools than the former Thunderbird book-end. A blocker with a mean streak and ideal size at tackle (6-foot-5, 310 pounds, 35-plus inch arms), Jones has the build/skeleton of a perennial Pro Bowler. Now it’s about getting him ready for a massive step up in competition at the next level — which won’t be easy. If the Bears implement the right program for Jones, then Justin Fields’ jersey just got a lot cleaner.”

The Bears will need a couple of offensive linemen they drafted or signed in the offseason to step up this year in order to give new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s offense a chance to work in the fall. The Bears offensive line last year gave up the most sacks, 58, of any NFL team in 2021. The good news is that they have depth on the line and can sort that out as the offseason continues on. The hope is that someone emerges and Jones is a legit candidate to do so.

Poles, a former offensive lineman himself, has said he’s a fan of homegrown talent, and the Bears hope Jones will be able to grow into a perennial pro bowl talent. Chris Morgan, the Bears offensive line coach, will have a new stable of draft picks to mold this season.

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

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A shooting outside a Near North bowling alley that killed one woman and wounded another over the weekend occurred during an argument involving an ex-boyfriend, Chicago police said Monday.

The man was in a car with a woman outside the 10pin in the 300 block of North State Street when he got out and shot the women around 1 a.m. Saturday, according to Chief of Detective Brendan Deenihan.

He did not go into details about the confrontation, only calling it “domestic.”

A 26-year-old woman was shot in the chest and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Her name hasn’t been released yet.

A 31-year-old woman was shot in the left thigh and taken to the hospital in good condition, officials said.

No one was in custody.

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The first month of the season for the Chicago White Sox was a bad one, to say the least. The team entered the season as heavy favorites to win the American League Central Division and expected to compete for the World Series. Instead, the White Sox went 8-12 in April and struggled across the board. Moreover, both the Cleveland Guardians and the Minnesota Twins swept them as part of a brutal eight-game losing streak.

The White Sox haven’t played themselves out of contention. In fact, despite the awful month, the team is only 4.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the division. However, the disappointing start raised questions about the White Sox. How good is this roster? Did the baseball world overlook their underlying issues, and could the struggles continue to hurt the team?

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

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Spiraling balls go through Chicago Bears wide receivers hands, fans hold their collective breath as Justin FIelds holds his chest while being helped off the field as the next image on their TV screen —this is the team general manager Ryan Poles inherited this offseason.

Poles talked a big game leading into the 2022 NFL Draft, but failed to make significant changes to the offense at quality positions in the early rounds of the draft. Not entirely off-the-wall decision making, but just the standard sort of moves that get general managers eventually canned.

No trades were made by the Bears until the third day of the draft. Poles seemed to take the draft board Friday like a bumbling intern making their first decision after railing against the status quo—stone-faced fear to make a bold call for fear of failing. All of the mock sims in the world couldn’t prepare Poles for the second day of the draft.

The Bears had their highest two picks in the second round, and Poles spent them on the secondary. Poles chose cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker (with the pick from the Khalil Mack trade) over the glaring needs at wide receiver and offensive line.

He offered no red meat for a fan base starving in want of a functioning offense, instead bringing berries from the woods, thistles in tact.

He waited in the third round before setting his appetite on a 24-year-old (the same age as A.J. Brown, traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Philadelphia Eagles in the last year of his rookie contract) wide receiver, Velus Jones Jr., predominately a kick returner during his six seasons college.

Post Friday’s press conference, Poles, quickly becoming a Yogi Berra figure, claimed there were still offensive linemen available, if not in the draft, in the streets, as if he thinks there’s some 6-foot-5, 314-pound free agent about to waddle up Michigan Ave.

Poles bothered to move back starting in round five, gaining extra 6th and 7th round talent. He went after a mix of positions including the offensive line (after seeing the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions take defensive linemen with their first-round picks) with the bravado of a 20-year-old who just discovered the margin feature on Robinhood. Poles likened the Bears to a remodel vs a rebuild, but this seems like he replaced outdated furnishings with the clearance rack at IKEA.

Poles can claim these moves were to stay disciplined, but they’re the sort of moves scouting rooms who aren’t sure of themselves make, failing to target quality players at a high value, and instead, they have to play a numbers game, hoping a few of these guys make the cut.

While it’s entirely possible some of those offensive picks will be gems, it doesn’t appear to be a safe bet.

Put it another way, is anyone but the opposition really excited to watch the Bears offense play after this draft?

The second-round picks in retrospect will likely be solid, but they undermined the mission Poles needs to be successful at his job. He needs to develop the player the Bears have invested the capital in that put the Bears in the spot where they didn’t have many picks coming into the draft.

Those two players will not fix the fact the Bears averaged 18.3 points per game in 2021. Fields is going to need an offensive line to give him time to throw to receivers who can run routes (reports on Jones say he struggles with this) and catch his passes. Poles has acknowledged Fields needs that help.

Poles has hinted that moves will be made in the future, via trades or other methods to help the young quarterback. After how he played up the draft following a boring free agency, that hope seems hollow.

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

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Two men were wounded in a shooting Sunday evening in the Loop near the Theater District.

The men, 27 and 55, were in an alley in the 100 block of North Wabash Street when someone opened fire just before 5 p.m., Chicago police said.

The younger man suffered a gunshot wound to the right hand and the older man was struck in the head, police said. Both were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition, police said.

No arrests were reported.

Police deployed additional resources to the Theater District Sunday evening. “We will continue to monitor the area and work closely with the Cook County sheriff’s police to enhance safety in our Theater District,” the department said in a statement.

The Sunday evening performance of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” at the Nederlander Theatre at 24 W. Randolph — about two blocks from the shooting — was canceled though the shooting wasn’t specifically given as the reason.

An official statement released to the media stated: “Due to an earlier disturbance in the Loop on Sunday afternoon, May 1, the evening performance of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” was cancelled. No other Broadway In Chicago productions were affected.”

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A teen was shot to death inside a Streeterville hotel over the weekend when people who were allowed in through a side door began arguing and shooting at each other, according to police.

A group of woman had rented a room at the Sonesta ES Suites at 201 E. Walton Pl. and had opened an emergency door to allow a group of men in early Sunday, according to Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan.

There was a confrontation and shots were exchanged, he said. Officers were called to the hotel around 5 a.m. and found an 18-year-old man wounded on the second floor. A gun was lying next to him, Deenihan said.

The teen was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.

No one was in custody, but Deenihan said police were tracking the car used by the gunman.

The victim’s name hasn’t been released.

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A shooting outside a Near North bowling alley that killed one woman and wounded another over the weekend occurred during an argument involving an ex-boyfriend, Chicago police said Monday.

The man was in a car with a woman outside the 10pin in the 300 block of North State Street when he got out and shot the women around 1 a.m. Saturday, according to Chief of Detective Brendan Deenihan.

He did not go into details about the confrontation, only calling it “domestic.”

A 26-year-old woman was shot in the chest and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Her name hasn’t been released yet.

A 31-year-old woman was shot in the left thigh and taken to the hospital in good condition, officials said.

No one was in custody.

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