Four people were killed and two teens were among 12 wounded in citywide shootings since Friday evening. | Sun-Times file photo

Two of the four killed were shot in Avondale.

Four people were killed and two teens were among 14 wounded by gunfire in Chicago since Friday evening.

Two men were fatally shot Saturday morning in Avondale on the Northwest Side. About 12:05 a.m., Chicago police found two men, 28 and 26, shot in the 2700 block of West Belmont Avenue, police said. The 28-year-old was found with multiple gunshot wounds throughout his body, and the 26-year-old was found shot in the torso shortly after, police said. Both were taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where they died, police said. They haven’t been identified yet.
Hours later, a man was fatally shot in Austin on the West Side. About 4:15 p.m., the 26-year-old was inside a vehicle in the 900 block of South Monitor Avenue, when he was stuck by gunfire, police said. He was struck in the neck and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name has not yet been released.
A man was found shot and killed Sunday morning in Ukrainian Village on the Northwest Side. About 12:55 a.m., a man believed to be 30 years old was found on the ground with a gunshot wound to the torso in the 900 block of North Damen Avenue, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died, police said. His name hasn’t been released yet.
In nonfatal attacks, a teen boy was shot Saturday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side. About 3:45 p.m., the 15-year-old was near an alley in the 7900 block of South Justine Street, when he was shot in the chest, police said. The teen was rushed to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, in serious condition, police said.
A 16-year-old boy was shot while waiting for a friend Friday night in the Near West Side. The teen was standing outside waiting for a friend about 7:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Western Avenue when someone in the back seat of a black Kia fired shots, police said. He was struck in the thigh and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition, police said.

At least 12 others were wounded in shootings in Chicago since 5 p.m. Friday.

Three people were killed and 26 others wounded in shootings in Chicago last weekend.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green is enjoying basketball a lot more these days. And it’s not just because his Golden State Warriors have started the season 5-1 after a 103-82 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

“Can I also say how satisfying it’s been to watch the game of basketball without all those bulls— calls,” Green said after the win, unprompted. “I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to curse in interviews, right? Can I say how satisfying it is to watch the game without all those terrible calls. Guys cheating the game and grabbing guys and getting the foul. I’ve been really enjoying watching basketball this year.

“I kind of had stopped watching the NBA a bit because it was just too flailing and flopping and guys cheating the game and getting free throws. So I think that’s been great. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that because I think that’s been fantastic.”

The NBA this summer enacted new rules against offensive players initiating contact or flailing while trying to draw foul calls. Green, one of the league’s most respected defenders, says the adjustment by the officials in the way the game is now being called has been felt by the players.

“You can 100 percent feel it,” Green said. “Because you don’t have guys doing the garbage to try and draw fouls anymore. I think this game was turning into who can draw the most fouls? Nobody wants to watch that and you definitely don’t want to play in a game like that. So you can feel the difference out there for sure. It’s just more pure basketball and that’s great for our game.”

Two-time MVP Stephen Curry agreed with Green’s assessment, saying there’s a lot less “egregious plays,” which makes the games better to watch.

“I’ve been watching around the league and for the most part, I’d say about 9 out of 10 calls that used to go the other way are not, for good reason,” Curry said. “There’s probably some that are still in that gray area where they’ll get more consistent, but it’s great for the game. I know a lot of fans are loving it. The defensive-minded players are loving it, for us to put the ball in the basket, focus on that. I’ve tried to my entire career so I don’t think it’s a huge adjustment, but I like it.”

Green said that the issues have been going on for a long time, but he commended the league for making the shift when it did, noting that watching the Olympics — which are played under FIBA rules — this summer likely helped push the change in officiating.

Green also specifically mentioned Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden as someone who took advantage of the way the game used to be called and inspired some younger players to do the same.

“James is one of the best at it,” Green said. “At driving and drawing fouls, drawing fouls from the three-point line, he’s one of the best at it. So I definitely remember those games of him going 24-for-24 from the free-throw line. And when you got a guy that shifty, and the moment you touch him they can hook and you’re called for a foul, it’s impossible to guard. You started to see a lot of guys master it, but they all learned from James for sure because he was the master before anybody else ever picked it up.”

As a defender, Green said the inability to be more physical with players, and the way the whistles were called, always hovered in his mind. But as both a player and a fan, Green is just happy the adjustments regarding offensive players trying to create contact has been made.

“The game is flowing better,” Green said. “And I think you’re seeing much better basketball. You’re not seeing 147 to 139. I think I saw the Celtics and Washington went to double overtime and the final score was maybe 104-102 or something like that. We went to overtime the other day, the final score was 104-101 and there’s great basketball taking place. So kudos to the NBA on that. It’s been great to see.”

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SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green is enjoying basketball a lot more these days. And it’s not just because his Golden State Warriors have started the season 5-1 after a 103-82 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

“Can I also say how satisfying it’s been to watch the game of basketball without all those bulls— calls,” Green said after the win, unprompted. “I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to curse in interviews, right? Can I say how satisfying it is to watch the game without all those terrible calls. Guys cheating the game and grabbing guys and getting the foul. I’ve been really enjoying watching basketball this year.

“I kind of had stopped watching the NBA a bit because it was just too flailing and flopping and guys cheating the game and getting free throws. So I think that’s been great. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that because I think that’s been fantastic.”

The NBA this summer enacted new rules against offensive players initiating contact or flailing while trying to draw foul calls. Green, one of the league’s most respected defenders, says the adjustment by the officials in the way the game is now being called has been felt by the players.

“You can 100 percent feel it,” Green said. “Because you don’t have guys doing the garbage to try and draw fouls anymore. I think this game was turning into who can draw the most fouls? Nobody wants to watch that and you definitely don’t want to play in a game like that. So you can feel the difference out there for sure. It’s just more pure basketball and that’s great for our game.”

Two-time MVP Stephen Curry agreed with Green’s assessment, saying there’s a lot less “egregious plays,” which makes the games better to watch.

“I’ve been watching around the league and for the most part, I’d say about 9 out of 10 calls that used to go the other way are not, for good reason,” Curry said. “There’s probably some that are still in that gray area where they’ll get more consistent, but it’s great for the game. I know a lot of fans are loving it. The defensive-minded players are loving it, for us to put the ball in the basket, focus on that. I’ve tried to my entire career so I don’t think it’s a huge adjustment, but I like it.”

Green said that the issues have been going on for a long time, but he commended the league for making the shift when it did, noting that watching the Olympics — which are played under FIBA rules — this summer likely helped push the change in officiating.

Green also specifically mentioned Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden as someone who took advantage of the way the game used to be called and inspired some younger players to do the same.

“James is one of the best at it,” Green said. “At driving and drawing fouls, drawing fouls from the three-point line, he’s one of the best at it. So I definitely remember those games of him going 24-for-24 from the free-throw line. And when you got a guy that shifty, and the moment you touch him they can hook and you’re called for a foul, it’s impossible to guard. You started to see a lot of guys master it, but they all learned from James for sure because he was the master before anybody else ever picked it up.”

As a defender, Green said the inability to be more physical with players, and the way the whistles were called, always hovered in his mind. But as both a player and a fan, Green is just happy the adjustments regarding offensive players trying to create contact has been made.

“The game is flowing better,” Green said. “And I think you’re seeing much better basketball. You’re not seeing 147 to 139. I think I saw the Celtics and Washington went to double overtime and the final score was maybe 104-102 or something like that. We went to overtime the other day, the final score was 104-101 and there’s great basketball taking place. So kudos to the NBA on that. It’s been great to see.”

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Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s new Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center, designed by architect Gordon Gill FAIA of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, will open to the public on Nov. 11. | James Steinkamp Photography

The $54-million Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center will feature a wine bar, a teen loft area and a 400-seat in-the-round theater.

The new Steppenwolf Theatre campus is all about collision.

Glass panes collide with ribbed concrete panels. Traditional playwriting collides with a new style of art for performers to imagine. In the new in-the-round theater, artists collide with audiences, who sit close enough to see the sweat bead on actors’ foreheads.

“What we have is an investment in the theater that we are today with the architectural investment in our legacy to come,” said E. Brooke Flanagan, Steppenwolf’s executive director. “We have space to grow into the theater company that we will be. But it’s founded in the principles of ensemble, innovation and the commitment to being a Chicago-based theater.”

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
Steppenwolf Theatre’s new education and arts center building on North Halsted Street is photographed earlier this month.

Steppenwolf’s new Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center is a $54-million project designed by Gordon Gill, of Chicago’s Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

The space is outfitted with a wine bar, an outdoor sidewalk lounge, a two-story atrium lobby and a teen loft area spanning the entire fourth floor.

But the heart of the new campus, Flanagan said, is the Round Theater, a six-row, 400-seat room where the stage sits in the center and no audience member will be more than 20 feet from the actors.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
The new upstairs bar area at the Steppenwolf Theatre’s education center is situated directly across the Steppenwolf History Wall, which boasts a collection of artifacts and memorabilia. The exhibit is sponsored by Steppenwolf co-founder Gary Sinise.

Bookending Steppenwolf’s renovation fund-raising campaign have been two global calamities — the 2008 financial crisis, which came just as talks of the project were getting underway, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as construction wrapped up. Those challenges required Steppenwolf to “drill down to our core values,” Flanagan said.

“It’s been a testament to the grit and resilience of this company, which is reflective of Chicago,” Flanagan said. “Out of great limitation comes creation. Out of tragedy comes resiliency and a determined focus on the future.”

The new campus is “a love letter to the city and a promise to our next generation of artists,” she added.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company was founded in the mid-1970s in a church basement in Highland Park by three young actors who wanted to change the world through their art. The renowned ensemble group moved to the city and then settled at a permanent home at 1650 N. Hasted Street in 1991. Quickly expanding, the company outgrew the space and started envisioning how to transform the existing building into something greater in the early 2000s.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
The new Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell sits at the heart of Steppenwolf’s new Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center. The round theater places the actors at the center of a 400-seat audience.

A meeting in 2007 with architect Gill kickstarted the $73 million campus expansion plan, for which Steppenwolf has raised more than three-quarters of the money.

Gill said he was drawn in by the people at Steppenwolf even before the architectural structure.

“It was the mutual respect that, ‘Let’s try to figure something out together,'” said Gill, who lives blocks from the theater. “I love that. There were no preconceptions. There was no ‘do it my way or else.’ It was a very open dialogue.”

The expansion began by transforming what used to be an Ethan Allen furniture store into a small black-box theater and the Front Bar, a social stop for coffee and drinks, with that work wrapping up in June 2016. What followed was iteration after iteration of design ideas, a process to find what would best serve Steppenwolf’s 49-person ensemble and its audience, Gill said.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
Brooke Flanagan, executive director for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and architect Gordon Gill of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, are photographed earlier this month at the new Steppenwolf Theatre campus on Halsted Street.

The bulk of the funding has gone toward the new Arts and Education Center, built around the new Round Theater, officially named the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, a longtime backer of arts in Chicago. The ability to open the stage floor combined with removable ceiling grids and catwalks give the stage 45 vertical feet — flexibility to produce sets of all shapes and sizes.

A handful of Steppenwolf ensemble members got to see the new theater ahead of the center’s upcoming ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, said Audrey Francis, who was named co-artistic director with Glenn Davis earlier this year.

“Every time we walk in, there’s an audible gasp,” Francis said. “We all have the same sense of awe and reverence for what this space actually means for us as artists coming off of 19 months of being told that we’re not essential” during the pandemic.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
Steppenwolf co-artistic directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis are photographed inside the new Round Theater, which places the stage at the center of a 400-seat audience.

A central walkway connects the Round Theater to the Downstairs Theater — which has been home to ensemble productions for more than 30 years — and continues through to the Front Bar at the northernmost part of Steppenwolf’s building. A back-of-house walkway likewise connects the backstage areas of all three theaters. What used to be the Upstairs Theater will now hold two dedicated rehearsal spaces for the ensemble.

It won’t be until February that Steppenwolf will welcome theater-goers to a play in-the-round. But Steppenwolf will continue to perform in the Downstairs Theater.

The new education and arts center officially opens to the public on Nov. 11, with the return to in-person performances with Tracy Letts’ “Bug.”

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Moon Alert

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Virgo.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

As Mercury dances with Jupiter, conversations with partners and close friends will be upbeat, informative and expansive. Everyone’s got an idea! Everyone wants to get into the act! Why not spitball ideas to see what happens? Everyone can make a contribution.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Stay light on your feet so you can respond to changing social plans. Meanwhile, something related to your health, your pet or your job will delight you. It could be an opportunity for you to explore now or in the future. Or perhaps it is about work-related travel? It might be a solution to a concern that you have.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Minor interruptions at home might occur. (Be wise and stock the fridge.) Meanwhile, you’re full of creative ideas! Enjoy playful activities with kids, social outings and any chance to express your creative talents. Explore the arts. This is a fun-loving, upbeat day for you to enjoy!

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Family discussions will be positive. People might gather where you live, perhaps to discuss home repairs. Or you might have a home gathering for another reason. Meanwhile, you’re open to big ambitious ideas! (Stay light on your feet because your daily routine might change.)

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Keep an eye on your money and assets because something unexpected could affect them. You might find money; you might lose money. You’re enthusiastic about short trips, errands and discussions with others. Ah yes, God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

You feel eager and excited about something, which is why you might be impulsive. The reason for your excitement could be that you’re pleased with financial news. Perhaps a better-paying job, a raise or a major coup when shopping will make your day!

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Mercury is in your sign dancing with Jupiter, which promotes positive thinking about the future. This is an excellent day to make plans because you feel hopeful about whatever is around the next corner. Vacation plans might also appeal. “Gotta blow this pop stand!”

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

A friend might surprise you today or you might meet someone who is different or unusual. Meanwhile, you feel restless with excitement because you’re anticipating something positive in your future. You’re open to philosophical and spiritual ideas.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Pay attention to what you’re doing because you might have a surprise encounter with a boss, parent or someone in authority (including the police). This is a perfect day to join a club, a group or organization that endorses your ideas because any kind of group activity will favor you. You might enjoy some physical sports?

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

You will impress bosses, parents and VIPs because you have big ideas that are futuristic and ambitious. You will be effective when discussing plans with other countries or foreign interests or people from different backgrounds. You can multitask today.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

This is a fabulous day to make travel plans. It’s also a great day to make plans for further education or training in postsecondary schooling. Some of you will explore big ideas in publishing, the law and medicine. Meanwhile, check banking details to avoid a glitch.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Discussions about shared property, inheritances or how to divide or share something will go well today because all parties will be happy with the results. (Including you.) This is a good day to make financial plans that include partners or joint efforts.

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actor Dermot Mulroney (1963) shares your birthday. You are strong-willed, perceptive and intelligent. Not only are you astute and persistent, you are courageous. These qualities help you to achieve what you want and deal with obstacles when they arise. This year is the first year of a nine-year cycle, which means you can explore many areas and open any door! You might take on a leadership role.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green is enjoying basketball a lot more these days. And it’s not just because his Golden State Warriors have started the season 5-1 after a 103-82 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

“Can I also say how satisfying it’s been to watch the game of basketball without all those bulls— calls,” Green said after the win, unprompted. “I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to curse in interviews, right? Can I say how satisfying it is to watch the game without all those terrible calls. Guys cheating the game and grabbing guys and getting the foul. I’ve been really enjoying watching basketball this year.

“I kind of had stopped watching the NBA a bit because it was just too flailing and flopping and guys cheating the game and getting free throws. So I think that’s been great. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that because I think that’s been fantastic.”

The NBA this summer enacted new rules against offensive players initiating contact or flailing while trying to draw foul calls. Green, one of the league’s most respected defenders, says the adjustment by the officials in the way the game is now being called has been felt by the players.

“You can 100 percent feel it,” Green said. “Because you don’t have guys doing the garbage to try and draw fouls anymore. I think this game was turning into who can draw the most fouls? Nobody wants to watch that and you definitely don’t want to play in a game like that. So you can feel the difference out there for sure. It’s just more pure basketball and that’s great for our game.”

Two-time MVP Stephen Curry agreed with Green’s assessment, saying there’s a lot less “egregious plays,” which makes the games better to watch.

“I’ve been watching around the league and for the most part, I’d say about 9 out of 10 calls that used to go the other way are not, for good reason,” Curry said. “There’s probably some that are still in that gray area where they’ll get more consistent, but it’s great for the game. I know a lot of fans are loving it. The defensive-minded players are loving it, for us to put the ball in the basket, focus on that. I’ve tried to my entire career so I don’t think it’s a huge adjustment, but I like it.”

Green said that the issues have been going on for a long time, but he commended the league for making the shift when it did, noting that watching the Olympics — which are played under FIBA rules — this summer likely helped push the change in officiating.

Green also specifically mentioned Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden as someone who took advantage of the way the game used to be called and inspired some younger players to do the same.

“James is one of the best at it,” Green said. “At driving and drawing fouls, drawing fouls from the three-point line, he’s one of the best at it. So I definitely remember those games of him going 24-for-24 from the free-throw line. And when you got a guy that shifty, and the moment you touch him they can hook and you’re called for a foul, it’s impossible to guard. You started to see a lot of guys master it, but they all learned from James for sure because he was the master before anybody else ever picked it up.”

As a defender, Green said the inability to be more physical with players, and the way the whistles were called, always hovered in his mind. But as both a player and a fan, Green is just happy the adjustments regarding offensive players trying to create contact has been made.

“The game is flowing better,” Green said. “And I think you’re seeing much better basketball. You’re not seeing 147 to 139. I think I saw the Celtics and Washington went to double overtime and the final score was maybe 104-102 or something like that. We went to overtime the other day, the final score was 104-101 and there’s great basketball taking place. So kudos to the NBA on that. It’s been great to see.”

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Minnesota running back Mar’Keise Irving tries to elude Northwestern defensive back Bryce Jackson Saturday in Evanston. | Nam Y. Huh/AP

The Wildcats started the season with Hunter Johnson, then turned to Ryan Hilinski. In the Wildcats’ 41-14 loss Saturday, they replaced Hilinski with Andrew Marty.

Northwestern’s search for a quarterback continues. The problem is, coach Pat Fitzgerald is just about out of options.

He started the season with Hunter Johnson and replaced him with Ryan Hilinski. In the Wildcats’ 41-14 loss to Minnesota on Saturday in Evanston, Fitzgerald replaced Hilinski with Andrew Marty.

After Hilinski went 1-for-6 for five yards, Marty completed 10 of 16 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns. But Northwestern (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten) already had dug itself too deep of a hole.

“We have to help [Marty] a little bit more,” Fitzgerald said. “We had more drops in the second half than we had in a long time. I thought he gave us a spark, and that was encouraging. So who is going to be our quarterback for next week? We will work through that.”

Running back Mar’Keise Irving ran for two touchdowns and a career-high 110 yards and Justin Walley scooped up a fumble and ran 25 yards for a score for Minnesota (6-2, 4-1). Irving, a freshman who played at Hillcrest, broke off a 41-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for a 33-7 lead. Ky Thomas added 106 yards on 21 carries.

Already thin at running back with season-ending injuries to Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts, the Gophers’ Bryce Williams suffered a lower leg injury, putting pressure on Irving and Thomas, a redshirt freshman. Williams’ status is unknown.

“Everybody knows we’re going to run the football,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. “I don’t think that is a secret. I don’t think we’re catching anyone off guard by that.”

Fleck even experimented with linebacker Derik LeCaptain at running back. He had a 24-yard run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

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Jorge Soler #12 of the Atlanta Braves hits a solo home run against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning in Game Four of the World Series at Truist Park on October 30, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. | Elsa/Getty Images

Dansby Swanson and pinch hitter Jorge Soler hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning to spark a 3-2 victory that gave them a 3-1 lead in the Series.

ATLANTA — A guy who spent most of the season in the minors kept the Braves in it. Then the offense finally came to life.

Just like that, Atlanta is one win from its first World Series title in 26 years.

Dansby Swanson and pinch-hitter Jorge Soler connected for back-to-back homers in the seventh inning Saturday night, propelling the Braves to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros and a commanding 3-1 Series lead.

Game 5 is Sunday night. The Braves can wrap up the championship on their home field, just as they did two stadiums ago when they beat the Cleveland Indians in 1995.

“It’s just such a cool moment for this city,” Swanson said. “But we’ve got one more. They’ve got a great ballclub over there and we can’t take anything for granted.”

That triumph 26 years ago at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium remains the franchise’s only World Series crown since moving to the Deep South in 1966.

This is the closest the Braves have been to a second title since then.

A huge shoutout goes to a most unlikely hero.

Former first-round draft pick Kyle Wright, who has largely been a huge disappointment in repeated chances with the Braves, turned in 4 2/3 gritty innings out of the bullpen after surprise starter Dylan Lee retired only one hitter.

Wright was hardly overpowering, giving up five hits — including a homer by Jose Altuve in the fourth that staked the Astros to a 2-0 lead — and three walks. But he continually pitched out of trouble, giving the Braves a semblance of hope until the offense woke up and Atlanta improved to 7-0 at home this postseason.

“Just so poised,” Swanson said. “This is really a big level, and man, he was awesome.”

Then, in the sixth, Eddie Rosario became the first Atlanta hitter to get past first base with a one-out double off Brooks Raley.

Rosario wound up scoring on another clutch postseason hit by Austin Riley, who lined a two-out single to left against Phil Maton.

The Braves left the bases loaded, but they weren’t done. Just like that, they stunningly engineered the first lead change of the entire Series.

Facing Cristian Javier, Swanson went the opposite way for a homer that tied the game at 2, the ball hit so hard that it ricocheted off the tabled section in the right-field stands and rolled all the way back to the infield.

“It was like, ‘You know what? Let’s get rid of everything else and just compete,'” Swanson said. “And you know what? Something amazing happened.”

The celebration had barely simmered down when Soler stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter. On a 2-1 pitch from Javier, he got hold of a hanging slider and drove it into the Astros’ bullpen in left, Yordan Alvarez hanging helplessly over the fence as the ball sailed over his head.

Luke Jackson worked a scoreless eighth, getting a great catch from Rosario slamming into the left-field wall that Soler homered over, and Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save in six chances this postseason.

The Astros could only kick themselves for squandering countless chances, going hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 on base overall.

Houston got just what it wanted from 38-year-old starter Zack Greinke, who threw four scoreless innings.

Greinke had last pitched in the World Series in 2019, when he was an 18-game winner acquired by the Astros in a trade-deadline deal.

Two years later, Greinke is no longer one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers. But he gave the Astros just what they needed in the bullpen era — four solid innings to leave with a 2-0 lead.

The Braves’ pitching was in a bit of disarray after Game 1 starter Charlie Morton was lost for the rest of the Series with a broken leg.

With former President Donald Trump watching from a private box down the right-field line — he even joined fans for the tomahawk chop — Atlanta decided to go with a parade of relievers, starting with a guy who was released by Miami before the season and spent most of the year in Triple-A.

Lee wasn’t even told he would be starting until he got to the ballpark Saturday afternoon, in hopes that he wouldn’t have too much time to get nervous.

But he looked overwhelmed by the moment, retiring only one hitter before he was lifted with the bases loaded, having walked two and thrown just five of 15 pitches for strikes.

It was the shortest Series start since 2003, when David Wells lasted only one inning for the Yankees in Game 5 before leaving with back spasms.

Wright escaped the jam with only one run scoring on a groundout and made only one major mistake before his night was done.

Altuve went deep with one out in the fourth, launching a 434-foot drive over the center-field wall. It was his 23rd homer in 77 postseason games, which pushed him to second place all alone on the career list behind Manny Ramirez with 29.

Altuve had been tied with longtime New York Yankees star Bernie Williams.

TRUMP’S CHOP

Only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, Trump chopped away with fans before the game while standing beside his wife, Melania.

Trump said he was invited to the game by Commissioner Rob Manfred and New York Yankees President Randy Levine. Major League Baseball denied making the invitation, saying the former president asked to attend the game.

Trump encouraged a boycott of MLB games after Manfred removed the All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia’s new voting law. The game instead was held in Denver.

Unlike the 2019 World Series in Washington, when Trump was booed while still in office, there was no obvious reception for the former president at Truist Park.

His appearance was not announced to the crowd.

LEE STARTS

Lee was one of the most unlikely starters in World Series history.

The 27-year-old left-hander had never pitched in the big leagues until the final weekend of the regular season, when he was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to make a couple of appearances after the Braves had already locked up the NL East title.

He had been released by the Miami Marlins at the end of spring training and signed a minor league deal with the Braves.

Lee didn’t last long in Game 4, but he will forever be known as a World Series starter.

UP NEXT

Game 1 loser Framber Valdez gets his second start of the Series for the Astros. The left-hander lasted only two innings last Tuesday, giving up eight hits, five runs and two homers in a 6-2 setback.

The Braves will counter with their second consecutive bullpen game. No word on who will be the opener in a start that would’ve gone to Morton if not for a broken leg that ended his season in Game 1.

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