Two people were wounded in a shooting Sunday evening in the Loop.

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

The younger man suffered a gunshot wound to the right hand while the older man was struck in the head, police said.

Both men were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition, police said.

Area Three detectives are investigating.

Police deployed additional resources to the Theater District following the incident.

“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 wrote in a statement.

Read More

MILWAUKEE — What could be better than a birthday complete with a gem of a performance on the mound, win No. 1 as a Cub and — oh, yeah, almost forgot — nausea-inducing anxiety?

We learned Sunday that Cubs newcomer Marcus Stroman isn’t exactly a cool customer before starts.

“Every start day is kind of similar with the anxiety and stress that kind of starts the night before, slash, the nausea,” he said. “That’s pretty routine.”

Yeah, well, happy birthday, bub. Stroman rang in No. 31 with his best outing of the season, throwing seven shutout innings at the first-place Brewers — and outdueling the outstanding Corbin Burnes — as the Cubs won 2-0 to avoid being swept in a three-game series.

Five months to the day after signing a three-year, $71 million free-agent deal, Stroman (1-3) gave up only two hits, retired the last 14 batters he faced and then rewarded himself with a delicious Popeyes chicken sandwich at his locker. OK, fine, all the Cubs had them, but still.

“I’m definitely getting more comfortable with each and every rep and getting to a place where I think I can kind of succeed from here on out,” he said.

The Cubs (9-13) came in having lost nine of 11 and been outscored by a cartoonish total of 20-2 in the first two games of the weekend. The hardest game was supposed to be the last one, with reigning National League Cy Young winner Burnes on the hill. Burnes more than held up his end of things, striking out four of the first five batters he faced and 10 in all over seven innings to become only the second pitcher in franchise history — joining Yovani Gallardo in 2011 — to have three straight starts with double-digit Ks.

“That guy’s incredible, man,” Stroman said. “He’s one of the very few pitchers I watch video on and really kind of dive into his stuff, his sequencing, his tunneling. I think he’s incredible with his pitch mix. Any time you’re going up against that guy, you have to bring your ‘A’ game.”

Stroman was hit hard in two of his first four starts. That led manager David Ross to make a comparison to Jon Lester’s early outings as a Cubs free-agent prize in 2015, the thinking being that perhaps Stroman was putting extra pressure on himself and trying a bit too hard. It’s certainly true that this year’s abbreviated spring training didn’t help starting pitchers, who customarily have more time to ramp up so they can hit the ground running once the games count.

“I don’t make excuses, man,” Stroman said. “I just didn’t pitch good in those starts.”

It was the first time Stroman gave up zero runs in a start since he went eight innings against the Reds last July as a member of the Mets. And it was his first birthday start since 2019, when — pitching for the Blue Jays — he was knocked out of a game in the fourth inning after a three-run double by Angels superstar Mike Trout. Not a very thoughtful present at all.

This time, Patrick Wisdom had his back with a long solo home run and Seiya Suzuki ended an 0-for-15 slump with an RBI double. Both hits came against Burnes, one of the many power pitchers who make the Brewers (15-8) so dangerous.

Reliever David Robinson put a bow on Stroman’s first Cubs “W” with an appearance that might be hard to top. He inherited two base runners in the eighth but struck out Jace Peterson to end the threat, then struck out Kolten Wong and Andrew McCutchen in the ninth — breaking Christian Yelich’s bat on a weakly hit grounder for the middle out.

“That’s my job,” Robertson said, “to come in and be that tough guy that you’ve got to battle with in the ninth or eighth, doesn’t matter to me [which].”

Read More

MILWAUKEE — New month, new Cubs?

They’d probably like to think so after beating the Brewers 2-0 in Sunday’s finale of a three-game series. The Cubs were outscored 20-2 over the first two games and ended April in a 2-9 slide.

April was rough, even with a lockout-delayed Opening Day and a 6-4 start by the Cubs that looked at least as good as that record. But the quality of at-bats dropped, strikeouts mounted and the team’s fielding went from flawless to fumbling from there as 6-4 turned into 8-13.

“We’ve got to clean up some things,” manager David Ross said. “Got to clean up the bases, got to clean up some of the mistakes we’ve made in the field. If we do that, we’re two or three games above where we’re at, in my opinion.”

As it is, they head home — to host the White Sox next — a hefty 5 1/2 games behind the Brewers, who are the defending NL Central champs and the clear favorites to win the division in 2022.

But, hey, 1-0 in May is just plain perfect, right?

“Month to month, you try to assess,” Ross said. “You try to win every game, but you can assess where you’re at, the kind of month you had, try to improve and see some trend lines over that month. That’s kind of how I try to look at it.”

Ross didn’t have many months to assess in the 60-game 2020 season, his first on the job. He had some tense months before the 2021 trade deadline and some lost ones, roster-wise, after it. What does he have in Year 3?

“We’ve got a group that I believe can win a lot of baseball games,” he said. “I think we’ve got a group that plays together. We’re just going to have to continue to pitch and play defense — [the] staples that kind of show up every single day — and if we do that, we’re going to be all right.”

Running tally

The Cubs have won only nine games, but three of them have been shutout and two of them have come at the expense of the Brewers. This one, by the way, put the Cubs back ahead 193-192 in the all-time series.

Here’s something strange, considering the Cubs have been less than stellar offensively for quite a while now: They’ve gone 68 games without being shut out themselves, the longest streak in baseball.

But don’t get too excited about that — this is the same team that scored one lonely run in four of the six games of a 2-4 road trip. Two runs on getaway day almost felt like an outburst.

Bullpen moves

The Cubs optioned leftyLocke St. Johnto Triple-A Iowa and placed rightyEthan Robertson the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 30) with right shoulder inflammation, reducing the active roster to 26.

Get semi-excited

How psyched is Ross to clash with the Sox at Wrigley Field this week?

Somebody hold him back.

“It’s a really good semi-rivalry of, like, crosstown,” he said.

Want to try that again?

“I love that series,” he said. “It’s fun for the environment at Wrigley and on the South Side.”

ON DECK

White Sox at Cubs

Tuesday: Michael Kopech (0-1, 1.42) vs. Drew Smyly (1-2, 2.79), 6:40 p.m., Marquee, NBCSCH, 670-AM, 1000-AM.

Wednesday: Lucas Giolito (0-1, 2.57) vs. Kyle Hendricks (1-2, 5.47), 6:40 p.m., Marquee, NBCSCH, 670-AM, 1000-AM.

Read More

Before Sunday’s game against the Angels, White Sox manager Tony La Russa seemed confident in struggling starter Dallas Keuchel.

“Most times out there, he’s thrown the ball well,” La Russa said. “The one day in Cleveland, it was kind of a wash for our whole team that day. I think he’s going to give us a chance to win today.”

The Sox did give themselves a chance but still took a 6-5loss, their 11th defeat in 13 games.

Keuchel went fiveinnings, giving up fourrunsand six hits while walking five (one intentional). Over his last two outings, Keuchel has walked 10 batters, though on Sunday his ERA actually dipped to 8.40 through four starts.

The lineup didn’t produce until the ninth. And it almost produced a miracle.

Trailing 6-0, the Sox got back into the game on Leury Garcia’s two-run double, Josh Harrison’s run-scoring double and Tim Anderson’s RBI single that pulled the Sox to within 6-4. Luis Robert was initially called out on a two-out grounder, but the call was overturned to keep the game alive.

Facing Angels closer Raisel Iglesias with the winning run at the plate, Yasmani Grandal walked to load the bases before Jose Abreu was hit by a pitch to make it 6-5. Former Sox pitcher Ryan Tepera replaced Iglesias and got Gavin Sheets to ground out softly to end the game.

That ninth almost turned around an otherwise-rough day for the Sox.

Mike Trout punished Keuchel in the first, driving a cutter out to right-center field. The 429-ft. homer left Trout’s bat at 111.4 mph, and was the first of five times he reached base.

Los Angeles got more against Keuchel in the third. Following a Taylor Ward infield single and a Trout double, Shohei Ohtani’s groundout brought in Ward to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead. Trout scored on Anthony Rendon’s sacrifice fly to right, pushing the Angels advantage to 3-0.

Keuchel’s issues continued in the fourth when Andrew Velazquez doubled in Max Stassi on a ball that AJ Pollock couldn’t reach after taking a circuitous route. The Angels couldn’t build on that 4-0 lead after leaving the bases loaded on an Ohtani groundout.

The Sox finally threatened Lorenzen in the sixth, getting runners to first and third with one out. But Sheets grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the scoring chance.

Pinch-hitting for Ohtani in the ninth after he was removed with right groin tightness, Jack Mayfield’s single against Tanner Banks pushed the Angels’ lead to 5-0. The run snapped Banks’ career-opening 13 2/3 scoreless streak, the second-longest in franchise history. Los Angeles scored again when a soft liner went off Josh Harrison, allowing Trout to cross home for a 6-0 lead.

Read More