Three people were wounded when a gunman began shooting outside a home in Princeton Park on the South Side early Thursday, firing off at least 45 rounds.

The attack happened around 3 a.m. in the 9400 block of South Harvard Avenue, police said.

A 22-year-old man was hit in the chest as he was leaving out a back door of the home and was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

A man and a woman, 46 and 45, were inside the home and were grazed by bullets. They refused medical attention on the scene.

No one was in custody.

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A robber and a man he was holding up were both wounded when they exchanged gunfire in East Garfield Park early Thursday.

The man, 28, was walking to his car in the 300 block of North Avers Street when a gunman approached and demanded his belongings, according to police.

The man, a concealed carry license, pulled out a gun and fired at the robber, who also began shooting, police said.

The man jumped into his car and discovered he had been hit in the abdomen.He drove to West Suburban Hospital, where he was listed in god condition.

The robber was shot in the left thigh and right hand and was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

A gun was recovered, police said.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Right-hander Michael Kopech hasn’t backed down from big moments, and he had another when he matched up Wednesday against Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani as the White Sox tried to get some momentum going in the rubber game of a series at Angel Stadium.

”He definitely has that quality,” manager Tony La Russa said before the game, noting Kopech’s one-hit starts May 22 against the Yankees on ”Sunday Night Baseball” and June 7 against the Dodgers, outings in which he pitched seven and six innings, respectively.

”This one is [to] win the series. It’s important for us going into the day off, going to San Francisco. One thing about him, he’s going to be ready to compete. And if he’s got it all working, we’ve got a great chance. If he doesn’t, he’s going to work his butt off to get it right.”

Kopech was forced to do the latter after the Angels scored two runs in the first, one of them when Kopech was charged with an error covering first base while attempting to complete a double play. Mike Trout, who had doubled home Taylor Ward (leadoff single), trotted home from third after shortstop Tim Anderson’s throw eluded Kopech, who was on the move.

Kopech rebounded from the first with three scoreless innings.

Having Kopech, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito and Johnny Cueto in regular rotation since Lynn came off the injured list ”is the most positive thing we’ve got going,” La Russa said. ”We’ve got legitimate starters. In San Francisco [this weekend], we have Lynn, Cease and Giolito. That’s where it starts.”

Closer Liam Hendriks (strained flexor in forearm) threw a bullpen session Wednesday, is slated for a simulated game Friday in San Francisco and might be able to return early next week.

”We get him back and we start swinging the bats, we can percolate,” La Russa said.

Anderson and Jose Abreu singled in the first, but Ohtani (6-4, 2.90 ERA going in) struck out Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert and Gavin Sheets in a 25-pitch inning.

Anderson flashing speed

Anderson took it easy when he first came off the IL after a strained groin, but he is blazing around the bases again.

”I’ve been feeling better in the last couple of games, able to move a lot more,” Anderson said. ”Overall, the body feels a lot better than it did.”

Anderson and other Sox players dealing with leg issues have been told to ”slow it down” when needed. It goes against Anderson’s instincts, but he gets it.

”My speed has always been a part of my game,” Anderson said. ”It’s just a matter of being smart, as well, after coming off the groin until I feel comfortable getting back rolling.”

Anderson said he wants to play every day but will rest when the training staff recommends it.

”I’m going to play every day I can,” he said. ”Whatever they say, goes. Just going to follow what they say.”

This and that

Outfielder/designated hitter Andrew Vaughn, who has been dealing with leg soreness, was rested to give him consecutive days off, including the Sox’ day off Thursday.

+ Outfielder Eloy Jimenez hit the first home run of his minor-league rehab, his first extra-base hit in 13 games. Jimenez has played only at DH and is 9-for-46 (.190).

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By now, all of Major League Baseball has access to information on the kind of damage Cubs rookie Christopher Morel can do with a fastball. And Morel knows even better.

“Sometimes he wants to hit 600-foot homers,” Cubs assistant coach Juan Cabreja told the Sun-Times, “instead of like 400-foot homers — that’s OK.”

What about 429-foot homers? That’s how far Morel launched a sixth-inning home run in the Cubs’ 8-3 win against the Reds on Wednesday at Wrigley Field.

Morel’s multi-hit game showed how effective he can be even as he’s adjusting at the plate to opposing pitchers’ shift in approach against him.

On Wednesday, Cubs manager David Ross moved Morel to No. 9 spot in the batting order as he adjusts. For over a month Morel had served as the Cubs’ leadoff hitter in every game he played, but he’d posted a sub-.200 batting average in the past two and a half weeks.

“That nine-hole can be a second leadoff guy at times,” Ross said. “And, one, just taking one of those at bats away in an area where he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself, swinging and missing. Try to get his timing back, let the game come to him a little bit more.”

Struggles are relative, and even before Wednesday, Morel had recorded hits in six of his last seven games. But the Cubs – and the rest of MlB – witnessed what Morel is capable of with a hot bat when he started his career on a 22-game on-base streak.

“This is just your typical guy getting into the big leagues, having some success, and especially at the top of the lineup, he’s on the radar,” Ross said last week.

The higher a hitter is on opposing teams’ radars, the more attention they’re paying to potential weaknesses.

“Especially on first pitch, people are a little bit more careful with him,” Cubs hitting coach Greg Brown said, “because they know he’s ready to hit right out of the box.”

So, they’re not challenging him with a fastball in the strike zone.

The Cubs’ series against the Cardinals this past weekend was an exaggerated example of how pitchers have adjusted to the rookie as he’s begun to establish himself in the majors. Over the course of three games, Morel saw 36 breaking balls, compared to 22 fastballs, according to Statcast.

With that approach, the Cardinals limited Morel to two hits over the three games, both singles. The first was off a fastball and the second a slider.

“They’re definitely focusing more on throwing breaking stuff early in counts against me,” Morel said through team interpreter Will Nadal. “I’ll keep working on that, just practicing, making sure that whenever they’re throwing breaking stuff at me that I’m able to identify, adjust, and make them pay.”

It’s not that Morel can’t hit breaking balls. Entering Wednesday, he was batting .207 on that pitch group, according to Statcast. But he’s done more damage on fastballs.

“The goal would be as he grows,” Brown said, “he’s going to recognize the sliders that he wants to hit versus the ones he doesn’t. Or what lane he wants the heater in. Those are just things that I think are going to come with time.”

Morel battled to get his pitch against Reds reliever Ross Detwiler in the sixth inning. Detwiler threw mostly cutters to Morel. And Morel, exercising patience, watched the first five pitches to get to a 3-2 count.

He fouled off another cutter to keep the at-bat going.

Then, Morel turned on a cutter low and inside to send a towering home run into the left field stands.

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The last thing the Fire needed was a potentially season-ending injury to one of their most important players. But defender Wyatt Omsberg tearing ligaments in his left foot is just the latest hurdle the team has faced.

To make something of their season, the Fire will have to overcome that adversity. And that’s just one of the places they’ve struggled in 2022.

Before Wednesday’s 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union, the Fire were last in MLS at 0.88 points per match and tied for the fewest points with 14. They made some progress against the East-leading Union, going ahead on Federico Navarro’s 68th minute goal after clever work from attacker Chris Mueller.

The uphill climb, though, is just beginning for the Fire. And the loss of Omsberg is just the newest obstacle.

“As a part of the defense, as my teammate next to me, he’s really important for me and for the whole defense,” captain Rafael Czichos said last week. “I think he’s been [having] a really good season so far. Yeah, that he’s injured now, obviously is bad for us but I think we will find a good solution to replace him.”

The Fire do have some options to make up for Omsberg’s absence in Carlos Teran, Mauricio Pineda and Jonathan Bornstein. Figuring out how to get by without Omsberg, however, is one of many issues as the season reaches the halfway point.

Per American Soccer Analysis, the Fire’s expected point total entering Wednesday was 21, a number that would’ve placed them within two points of the Eastern Conference playoff line. Though that statistic isn’t ironclad, it shows that the Fire are capable of controlling play and creating chances.

One of the problems is converting those opportunities into goals. Perhaps the best example of the Fire’s deficiency in that area came May 28, when they outshot Toronto FC 33-5 but still managed to lose 3-2.

“I think the best game we’ve played so far was the game in Toronto,” Czichos said. “We had a lot of possession. We were really aggressive. We had a lot of chances, I think the most chances in the season so far but the problem was the result.”

The Fire defense, which was strong to begin the season, has turned error-prone. In their first game after Omsberg’s surgery, the Fire trailed 1-0 late in the first half at Houston when four players couldn’t deal with an innocent-looking cross before allowing the Dynamo’s Darwin Quintero to double their lead.

Nothing like that happened Wednesday, though Philadelphia might’ve had a legitimate argument for a stoppage-time penalty after a challenge by the Fire’s Jonathan Bornstein.

Facing one of the league’s best teams, the Fire generally had the upper hand but couldn’t convert until Navarro scored his first of the season. Before that, Philadelphia had a chance to take the lead in the 47th minute, but Fire goalie Gabriel Slonina repelled a close-range header from the Union’s Cory Burke. The Union, who had a day fewer of rest than the Fire, went down to 10 men in the 73rd minute when Jose Martinez received his second yellow card.

The Fire then killed off the remainder of the match, winning for the second time in three tries after a 10-game MLS winless streak.

NOTE: Andre Reynolds II made his first career MLS start, replacing Miguel Navarro (health and safety protocols). Like Navarro, Pinedais in the protocol.

Torres (left hip) was absent as well.

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