Needing a win to keep their season alive, the Chicago Bulls have ruled out guards Zach LaVine and Alex Caruso for Wednesday’s Game 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks.

LaVine will not play after entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols Tuesday. Bulls coach Billy Donovan had said LaVine was not feeling great Tuesday morning, and the two-time All-Star did not travel with the team to Milwaukee later that day.

Caruso entered the concussion protocol after he took an inadvertent hit to the face from the Bucks’ Jevon Carter while trying to get around a pick by Giannis Antetokounmpo late in the second quarter of Sunday’s Game 4.

Milwaukee holds a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. LaVine is averaging 19.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists in the series, while Caruso, arguably Chicago’s best defender, has chipped in 6.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists against the Bucks.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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ATLANTA – After pitcher Marcus Stroman’s strong debut with the Cubs, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy talked about the right-hander’s desire to unlock an even better version of himself.

“A lot of his career has been really, really good for a long time,” Hottovy said earlier this month, “And he’s done a lot on athleticism, and I think there’s a whole ‘nother dial there that I think can get turned up if he takes what he’s already really good at and is able to repeat that a lot more consistently, the sky’s the limit, really, on what he can do.”

Since thatfirst outing, Stroman has been searching for a consistent rhythm for his last two starts. The Cubs’ 3-1 loss to the Braves on Tuesday was a step toward getting Stroman back to feeling in sync on the mound. And once he gets there, the Cubs can again talk about turning up the dial.

Stroman said he felt more in rhythm on Tuesday, but not quite where he wants to be. He allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits, a quality start.The Cubs’ only run came on a solo homer from Ian Happ.

Cubs manager David Ross zoned in on Stroman getting ahead in the count. His first time through the lineup, Stroman threw first-pitch strikes to six out of nine Braves batters. He issued no walks.

“Really nice performance,” Ross said. “Thought he gave us a chance to win the ballgame. Looked like he was in control pretty much the whole game.”

The Braves would have done even less damage if it weren’t for a hard line drive to center field that Michael Hermosillo misplayed, caught in between for a waist-high hop that got behind him. Dansby Swanson scored from first base, and Ozzie Albies, who’d hit the single, made it all the way to third.

Stroman again stifled the Braves’ momentum, retiring the next two batters in order. He struck out Matt Olson and induced a fly out from Austin Riley.

“He continued to pitch his game,” Ross said. “I think he’s done that pretty successfully so far. Just he hasn’t been where he wants to be…. Tonight, he just continues to make pitches, he seems very unfazed by the environment and the moment. He’s a guy who’s going to go out there and do his thing. And that’s something I love about him.”

In the sixth, Stroman’s last inning on the mound, the Cubs’ outfield defense helped him secure a 1-2-3 frame. Hermosillo ran into the wall on a long fly ball from Travis d’Arnaud, making the catch in a full-out sprint. Seiya Suzuki caught the last out of the frame against the Braves bullpen’s netting.

“Once I’m in sync, then it allows me to do so much more, whether it be timing, whether it be more aggressive in the zone,” Stroman said. “So the biggest thing isdefinitely just being comfortable with my mechanics. If I’m out there for 100 pitches, I want to be consistent on at least 80 to 90 percent of them. I don’t think I’m anywhere near that number right now.”

He is getting closer. That’s good news for the Cubs, who are relying on Stroman and veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks to lead their rotation.

“I’m happy it went in that direction and not and not backward,” Stroman said. “So, definitely just work off that momentum and work withour guys here to get my body and my mechanics in the best position before next start.”

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The White Sox didn’t hit or catch the ball, and their pitchers couldn’t throw strikes.

That is how they went about trying to prevent a dreadful losing streak from reaching eight games Tuesday against a supposedly inferior opponent. Opening a home stand against the 6-9 Royals, the Sox fell to 6-10 with a 6-0 loss, their eighth in a row to match their longest skein since June 2018, a season in which they lost 100 games.

Much like the 0-6 road trip against two AL Central foes they couldn’t wait to put behind them, this loss offered another complete exhibition of bad baseball for a team with World Series aspirations. The Royals snapped a four-game losing streak.

Left-hander Dallas Keuchel, coming off a disastrous start in Cleveland, was backed by more bad defense and a big zero for offense once again, although five walks over four-plus innings hiked his pitch count to 88 (42 strikes). Sox pitchers issued 11 walks to the team with the lowest walk rate in the AL.

After going hitless in the first three innings, the Royals got two runs in the fourth against Keuchel without getting a ball out of the infield. It started with first baseman Jose Abreu dropping a throw from shortstop Tim Anderson for the Sox’ major league high 19th error, and that set the tone for another bad night. Anderson, on a fairly routine grounder in the eighth, made his seventh error in the last seven days and the Sox’ 20th of the season.

A walk and a slow roller by Bobby Witt Jr. deflecting off third baseman Jake Burger’s glove for a run-scoring infield hit followed. A slow roller by Adalberto Mondesi to Abreu made it 2-0. The Royals sent 10 batters to the plate in a four-run sixth. Four of them walked against Reynaldo Lopez and Kyle Crick (three).

“Is there concern, is there frustration, is there disappointment? Absolutely,” general manager Rick Hahn said before the game. “Is there also perspective that a week ago we were 6-2 and now we’ve had a crap week and we’re 6-9? Can the fact of the matter be, is it one bad week out of a very long season?”

Before a very bad week spilled over into another, Hahn said he believes in the team’s talent and upside.

“There’s no voiding the frustration and disappointment but one of the beautiful things about this sport is the length of the season really forces the cream to rise to the top over the course of the six-month season,” Hahn said.

The Sox were hitting .182/.234/.282 with 22 runs scored for a 2.2 average over their last 10 games. Lefty Dan Lynch held them to no runs on two hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.

The Sox, who had five hits, were coming off a 6-4 loss Sunday in which Byron Buxton’s three-run homer off closer Liam Hendriks raised much talk about La Russa’s decision to pitch to Buxton with first base open. Hahn was invited into the discussion Tuesday, and declined to agree with La Russa.

“I have opinions on that and those are for those involved in decision making,” Hahn said. “We have those conversations internally and talk things through as a group. Again, ultimately, hopefully give Tony and the coaching staff the best information to make the right decisions.”

Leury Garcia did not play Tuesday, and his usage in the No. 2 and 3 spot in the lineup despite his .098 batting average led to a question for Hahn about La Russa’s lineups.

“We talk almost every day about the issues affecting the team, ranging from player availability and health to usage,” Hahn said. “Ultimately, the manager has the lineup card and he’s the one who will answer any questions you have about how he’s using the players and when and why.”

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ATLANTA – Braves reliever Jesse Chavez greeted Cubs rookie Ethan Robers with a, “How you doing kiddo?'” before their teams opened a three-game series at Truist Park on Tuesday.

Chavez’ 2022 reunion with the Cubs had been short-lived. He’d appeared in three games for the Cubs, allowing four runs in 5 2/3 innings before the Cubs traded him to Atlanta last week, with a cash consideration, for left-hander Sean Newcomb.

In that short time, the veteran reliever made an impact on Roberts.

“I sat and talked in the bullpen with Chavy this week for probably, gosh, a total of two hours probably,” Roberts said last week, “just just nit picking his brain and stuff like that.”

The biggest piece of advice Chavez gave him, Roberts said, was to breathe.

“If you think you’ve got a big pitch to make, you’ve got to breathe deeper than you think you need to breathe,” Roberts recounted.

Chavez told the rookie that in Colorado, after Roberts walked in a run in the fifth inning of an eventual Cubs win.

“It’s a learning experience,” Roberts said with a smile. “I’m young, I’m gonna make mistakes. But I’m going to learn from my mistakes and not make them again.”

Ring in the series

A pair of Cubs pitchers stood on a red circle of red carpet up the first baseline before the game Tuesday as the public address announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers:

“Please welcome back to Braves country, World Champion pitchers Drew Smyly and Chris Martin.”

The crowd gave each an ovation to kick off a brief World Series ring ceremony for the former Braves who signed with the Cubs this spring. They donned their diamond-encrusted rings and held them out to be displayed on the imposing video board over center field.

On the Braves’ way to a title last year, Martin allowed one run in five playoff outings, and Smyly earned the win in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series before appearing in two World Series games.

Simmons slowed

Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons (right shoulder inflammation) experienced a minor setback in his rehab in Arizona, the team revealed Tuesday. Simmons is still throwing but is taking a break from hitting live after experiencing shoulder soreness. He’s expected to resume live batting practice next week.

“I think the challenge is, you’ve got an elite defender that we’re missing, right?” Cubs manager David Ross said. “… I think guys [have] been doing really well, we’ve mixed and matched the group as best we could.”

Without Simmons, versatile infielder Jonathan Villar, who the team envisioned as primarily a third baseman, has been serving as the backup shortstop.

“I think the main thing is just knowing he’s a big part of our success,” Ross said of Villar, who has committed four errors but entered Tuesday hitting .341 with eight RBI. “He’s swinging the bat well. Some guy may be playing great defense but not hitting – we’ve all got areas in our game that we can improve. And he’s working.”

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