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One day after his scary collision with Hunter Dozier, Abreu started against Kansas City.

Somehow, Jose Abreu started at first base and hit fourth Saturday for the White Sox.

A day after his scary collision with the Royals’ Hunter Dozier, Abreu was checked by team doctors and given the go-ahead to play. Sox manager Tony La Russa said Abreu was eager to get back into the lineup after missing Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader, and would’ve been inpatient if he had to wait until Sunday’s series finale to return.

That wasn’t the case.

The only waiting actually occurred before the game when the Sox held off on releasing their lineup until they knew Abreu’s status. During a phone call to explain the delay, La Russa and Royals counterpart Mike Matheny concurred the incident was unique.

“We both agreed I don’t think I’ve ever heard that kind of collision on a baseball field ever,” La Russa said. “The fact that they are both going to come out of it without anything serious is really a stroke of good fortune. It was scary.”

A long-term injury to Abreu would’ve been especially frightening for the Sox, who are already without Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez for maybe the rest of the season. Those fears were unfounded, and the Sox can move forward with the reigning American League MVP.

Leury Garcia said seeing what happened to Abreu was tough for everybody, and they thought the outcome would be worse.

“But we know Pito, what kind of guy, what kind of player he is, what kind of human. And he’s ready to go,” Garcia said before the lineup was released. “I don’t know if he’s going to play tonight or not, but we thought it was going to be worse. And thank god everything is fine.”

By playing Saturday, Abreu appeared in his 998th career game. When he hits 1,000, Abreu will become the 29th player in Sox history to play that many with the team. He will also be the 66th active player to reach the mark.

As for Leury…
Garcia entered Saturday slashing .219/.248/.271 after playing only 16 games last year due to injury. But without Robert, Jimenez and Adam Engel (strained right hamstring), Garcia’s role and importance has increased.

Garcia didn’t use last year’s lack of action as an excuse for his slow start, and said he’s been working to find ways to succeed and get on base.

“I don’t worry about the past. I don’t worry about the last game,” Garcia said. “I just worry about the game that I play that day. I’ve been working — I’m still working — on my offense, and I think at the end of the day, I’ll be all right.”

Naming captains?

Baseball teams naming official captains is unusual, and don’t expect La Russa to break with that precedent.

La Russa said he’s never done it because the season is so demanding and doesn’t want to give players another responsibility. At the same time, he routinely calls Abreu and Tim Anderson captain, as in “Captain, we got to get this one today.”

“Officially, I just, I never have thought that,” La Russa said. “The guys in the clubhouse know who the captains are and who the assistant captains are. That’s what counts.”

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The gunshots rang out from a parking garage connected to a luxury high-rise condominium in a bustling area of River North near Dearborn Street.

Three men were shot during a gunfight at a parking garage on a busy Near North Side block Saturday morning, authorities said.

The men were “all shooting at each other” about 9:50 a.m. inside a parking garage in the first block of West Grand Avenue, according to Chicago police.

Two men, 27 and 28 years old, were taken with gunshot wounds to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said. The younger man was struck multiple times and was in critical condition, while the older man was grazed in the eye and in fair condition.

A third man, 20, was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition with two gunshot wounds to his knee, police said.

No one was in custody Saturday afternoon.

A trio of witnesses, who asked not to be named, described what they called a “weird” series of events in the garage connected to a luxury high-rise condominium in a bustling area of River North near Dearborn Street.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The group said they were on their way to their vehicle when they heard what sounded like a car crash.

“I said, ‘Oh no, somebody’s s— got smacked — something happened,’” one witness recalled.

The group also heard two “pops,” which turned out to be gunshots.

When the group drove their car to the third floor of the garage, they saw a vehicle crashed into a cement barrier with its airbags deployed. The witnesses said it was unclear what led up to the crash.

“It didn’t make any sense the way it was crashed,” said one person.

When the group heard another gunshot and someone yell, “Shots fired!” they reversed their car and drove away.

The witnesses told investigators what they saw. Officers told the witnesses that there were four suspects.

Police blocked traffic on Grand Avenue between Dearborn Street and Wabash Avenue for the investigation, and pedestrians were blocked from walking on the normally busy stretch of Grand between State Street and Dearborn.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

CTA Red Line trains bypassed the Grand station, causing confusion for some tourists who were left to gawk at the rain-soaked crime scene.

Corey Kaplan, the owner of Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli in River North and Goose Island, said he had just gotten back from a delivery when he saw the first squad car pull up to the garage.

“It’s absolutely mind blowing… and the reason why I say that is because we really try to think that River North is safe, and especially on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m. There’s a lot of kids and families that are walking around, they’re coming out for their normal Saturday morning bagel,” he said.

Kaplan said he had never seen anything like Saturday’s incident in his 10 years in the neighborhood.

“It’s really bizarre and mind-blowing that this could happen,” he said. “But what I think what is safe to say is that no place is safe anymore. It’s really scary.”

At least 19 other people have been shot across the city in separate attacks since Friday evening.

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One day after his scary collision with Hunter Dozier, Abreu started against Kansas City.

One day after his scary collision with the Royals’ Hunter Dozier, Jose Abreu is in the White Sox lineup for Saturday’s game with Kansas City.

The reigning American League MVP, Abreu was checked out by Sox doctors around 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. A few minutes later, the Sox released their lineup with Abreu hitting fourth and playing first base.

Manager Tony La Russa said he spoke with Royals counterpart Mike Matheny to explain why the Sox’ lineup was later than usual, and they concluded the incident was unique.

“We both agreed I don’t think I’ve ever heard that kind of collision on a baseball field ever,” La Russa said. “The fact that they are both going to come out of it without anything serious is really a stroke of good fortune. It was scary.”

Dozier was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list. Abreu, meanwhile, was listed as day-to-day with a facial contusion and laceration, plus a bruised left knee.

“Well, based on yesterday, last night to today, he’s made a remarkable comeback as far as the appearance,” La Russa said. “He’s moving around. He’s actually taking some swings.”

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The loss to the Nets was a reminder of the talent gap the Bulls have with some of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference, even with Zach LaVine sitting. Now it’s about finishing up against Milwaukee, and then many offseason questions to answer.

The season of “what ifs’’ ends on Sunday, when the Bulls host Milwaukee in the finale.

A reminder of “Not even close?’’

That was handed out on Saturday.

With Brooklyn’s “Big Three’’ of future Hall of Famers Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving reunited on the court for the first time in three months, even with huge amounts of rust build up, they beat the Bulls 105-91.

Not that the three looked lights out by any means, but with the Bulls coming off the disappointment of officially being eliminated from the play-in game on Friday thanks to a Washington win over the Cavs, as well as coach Billy Donovan sitting out Zach LaVine, Tomas Satoransky and Daniel Theis, Brooklyn didn’t need the trio to look great.

It was more about getting them reps with each other as they prepare for a postseason run.

That they did, as Durant had 12 points and nine rebounds in 30minutes of work, Irving led them with 22 points, and Harden had five points and seven assists in 25 minutes of work.

As for the Bulls (30-41), it was dealing with the sting of unfulfilled goals, and at the same time trying to reconcile with the idea that the best is still in front of them.

Not easy to do when the opposing bench has the fire power of the Nets, while the Bulls have an All-Star duo in Nikola Vucevic and LaVine that still needs time together, and then a whole bunch of question marks surrounding them.

“Definitely disappointing,’’ Vucevic said of falling short of their playoff goals. “We really felt like we had a chance to get there and to get in the play-in and play for something further. But there were a lot of things that happened along the way that didn’t help us, either. I mean it’s hard to judge it now. There were definitely things we could have done better.’’

There’s no doubting that.

Defense, physicality, lack of urgency, all of it was on display far too often this season. This roster has to wear that, and can’t necessarily blame a lack of cohesion on it.

Where they do get a small pass, however, is the fact that because of the condensed second-half schedule, practice time was almost impossible to pull off. No biggie for some teams. But for a Bulls front office that added five new players at the trade deadline, they definitely had too many moments where they looked like a pick-up team thrown together at the local YMCA.

“When you make a trade midseason, a lot of things change and sometimes it takes more time, and unfortunately we didn’t have that,’’ Vucevic said. “It is disappointing we didn’t achieve our goal, so we have to be realistic and say we failed at that. But the only thing we can do is move forward and hopefully use that as motivation going into next year.’’

With still one game left, the Bulls locker room remained somewhat careful not to skip steps and start jumping into offseason changes and what needed to be worked on. That will likely come the next few days.

One positive, however, was rookie Patrick Williams taking an over-due aggressive approach on the offensive end, scoring 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting.

Donovan had been talking to Williams about being too unselfish, and the latest film session between the two hopefully unlocked something.

“It definitely helps, just kind of see how it is from a film point of view, it kind of feels or looks different to me out there on the court than it does on film, but when you have a birds eye view it kind of makes it easier to read,’’ Williams said. “They obviously trust me and have confidence in me, so not letting them down and having confidence in myself.’’

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White said he didn’t want to be judged on last year, and even the early part of this season. The way the second-year player sees it, he’s still learning and only getting better at the point guard position.

With postseason hopes now officially crushed on Friday night, the list of offseason decisions by this Bulls front office is plenty.

Second-year player Coby White has only been adding to that.

Entering the Saturday afternoon game in Brooklyn, White averaged 18.3 points and 5.1 assists per game in the first seven games in March, while also shooting 43% from three-point range.

Numbers that would seem to indicate that the point guard problems plaguing the team most of the season have been solved in-house. At the same time, a small enough of a sample size where it could simply be a mirage, especially when he went 1-for-10 in the loss to the Nets.

White didn’t agree with the mirage part.

“Disregard everything that happened last year, well, this [earlier] year, I just feel like I’m continuing to grow,’’ White said of his progression as a starting point guard. “I don’t really feel like it’s a thing where, ‘At the end of the season, he gets hot.’ Nah, because I feel like this year I’ve been growing and learning and everything is starting to come together at the right time.

“I feel like if you live right, you do the right things, everything will come together for you. So that’s how I see it.’’

Is that how executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas will see it, however?

White was handed the starting job out of camp, and struggled with consistency on both ends until he was benched for Tomas Satoransky in mid-March. White earned that starting spot back a month later, and has played at a much higher level all around since.

What the front office has to decide is has White shown enough that they can address other positions this summer or is White simply a combo guard who still needs a veteran mentor?

Dennis Schroder, Lonzo Ball (restricted), Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry and Chris Paul (player option), can each be on the market, but also come with big receipts.

White’s stance is the team’s already invested in him, and he’s only getting better.

“A lot of guys my age, especially getting taken out the starting lineup, you could’ve handled that two different ways,’’ White said. “You could’ve pouted and just said forget it, F it, or you could’ve just kept playing and continue to get better and continue to stay on the grind. And I chose to continue to stay on the grind and continue to keep playing. And then my number got called and I took advantage of it.

“I feel like I have the best job in the world. I don’t even look at it as a job really, I look at it as a dream come true. I’m going to continue to get better and continue to grind. I still have a long way to go.’’

Bull market

The Bulls only have seven players under contract for next season, and that included Thad Young and Tomas Satoransky, who each have partial guarantees in the final year of their deals.

Nikola Vucevic will currently be the highest-paid Bull at $24 million for the 2021-22 campaign, followed by Zach LaVine ($19.5 million, but could be extended), Young ($14.1 million), Satoransky ($10 million), Patrick Williams ($7.4 million), Coby White ($5.8 million) and Troy Brown Jr. ($5.1 million).

That list will likely grow to eight guaranteed players with Al-Farouq Aminu holding the player option at $10.1 million.

The Bulls do have the team option on Ryan Arcidiacono at $3 million.

If Karnisovas is looking to deepen his payroll pockets and pursue a point guard like Ball on the market, waiving Young and Satoransky before free agency would save him an additional $13.1 million.

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A man was killed in a shooting Saturday in Woodlawn on the South Side, police said.

About 2:45 p.m., he was in the 1300 block of East Marquette Road when someone opened fire, striking him multiple times, Chicago police said.

The 21-year-old was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released details.

Area Two detectives are investigating.

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At least four people have been killed and 17 others wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening, including a 2-year-old girl who was shot in Little Village on the Southwest Side.

The girl was in the back seat of a car being driven by a male about 6:55 p.m. Friday in the 2800 block of West 26th Street when another vehicle drove up alongside them and someone inside that vehicle started shooting, Chicago police said.

She was shot in the leg and was taken by the driver to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was in good condition, according to police.

Early Saturday morning, two people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting at a party in Gresham on the South Side.

Several people were at a gathering in the 7800 block of South Loomis Boulevard when a gunman opened fire shortly after 3 a.m., according to police.

A 26-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

A 21-year-old was also struck in the head and taken to the same hospital, where he later died, police said.

A 25-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and was also taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.

Another man, 23, suffered two gunshot wounds to the right arm and was transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, police said. A fifth man, 21, was struck in the shoulder and listed in fair condition at the same hospital, according to police.

In another fatal shooting, a person was found shot to death about an hour later at a gas station in West Garfield Park.

The male was found about 4:05 a.m. in the parking lot of a gas station in the 400 block of South Kostner Avenue with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.

He was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Friday night, a man was killed and another injured in a shooting in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side.

About 11:50 p.m., officers heard several shots fired and saw an 18-year-old man running with a rifle in the 6200 block of West Diversey Avenue, police said.

Officers placed him under arrest and noticed he had two gunshot wounds to the back and one to the arm, police said. He was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.

While searching the area, officers also found a 32-year-old man on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was taken to the same hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

At least 11 other people were wounded in citywide shootings since 5 p.m. Friday.

Last weekend, five people were killed and 21 others hurt in incidents of gun violence across Chicago.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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Three men were shot during a gunfight at a parking garage on a busy Near North Side block Saturday morning, authorities said.

The men were “all shooting at each other” about 9:50 a.m. in the first block of West Grand Avenue, according to preliminary information from Chicago police.

Two men were taken with gunshot wounds in serious-to-critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, fire officials said. A third was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair-to-serious condition.

A trio of witnesses, who asked not to be named, described what they called a “weird” series of events in the garage connected to a luxury high-rise condominium in a bustling area of River North near Dearborn Street.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The group said they were on their way to their vehicle when they heard what sounded like a car crash.

“I said, ‘Oh no, somebody’s s— got smacked — something happened,'” one witness recalled.

The group also heard two “pops,” which turned out to be gunshots.

When the group drove their car to the third floor of the garage, they saw a vehicle crashed into a cement barrier with its airbags deployed. The witnesses said it was unclear what led up to the crash.

“It didn’t make any sense the way it was crashed,” said one person.

When the group heard another gunshot and someone yell, “Shots fired!” they reversed their car and drove away.

The witnesses told investigators what they saw. Officers told the witnesses that there were four suspects.

It was unclear if anyone was in custody Saturday afternoon.

Police blocked traffic on Grand Avenue between Dearborn Street and Wabash Avenue for the investigation, and pedestrians were blocked from walking on the normally busy stretch of Grand between State Street and Dearborn.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

CTA Red Line trains bypassed the Grand station, causing confusion for some tourists who were left to gawk at the rain-soaked crime scene.

Corey Kaplan, the owner of Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli in River North and Goose Island, said he had just gotten back from a delivery when he saw the first squad car pull up to the garage.

“It’s absolutely mind blowing… and the reason why I say that is because we really try to think that River North is safe, and especially on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m. There’s a lot of kids and families that are walking around, they’re coming out for their normal Saturday morning bagel,” he said.

Kaplan said he had never seen anything like Saturday’s incident in his 10 years in the neighborhood.

“It’s really bizarre and mind-blowing that this could happen,” he said. “But what I think what is safe to say is that no place is safe anymore. It’s really scary.”

At least 18 other people have been shot across the city in separate attacks since Friday evening.

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