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Getting around downtown used to mean jumping in a car, fighting traffic, trying to squeeze into scarce parking spaces or waiting for a slow-moving bus. But…

On a night when the Minnesota Twins pulled off the first 8-5 triple play in major-league history and manager Tony La Russa earned his first ejection of the season, the Chicago White Sox fell 6-3 in 10 innings before a raucous crowd of 32,483 on the South Side.The Twins pulled 5½ games ahead of the third-place Sox in the first of seven crucial games before the All-Star break between the American League Central rivals.AdvertisementThe Twins scored four runs off Joe Kelly in the 10th, sending most of the crowd to the exits.“Our goal is to win,” Sox first baseman José Abreu said. “If we win, we’re going to be in a good spot. That’s our purpose. That’s what we try to accomplish every day. If we do that at the end of this stretch, we’ll be in a good position. If not, we’ll assess and see where we are after that.”AdvertisementThe Sox took a quick lead when Abreu homered off Dylan Bundy in the second. Johnny Cueto was in command until giving up a double to Luis Arraez and a two-run homer to Byron Buxton on back-to-back pitches in the fifth.After Abreu doubled against Griffin Jax leading off the seventh, Yoán Moncada’s single tied the game at 2-2, setting up one of the craziest triple plays you’ll ever see.[ [Don’t miss] Column: Could White Sox be sellers at the trade deadline? Next 2 weeks vs. AL Central foes may tell the tale. ]AJ Pollock lined a shot to deep center, which Buxton caught on the run near the wall. Both runners — Moncada and pinch runner Adam Engel — took off on the liner and had no chance of getting back to their bases. Buxton wheeled and threw to third baseman Gio Urshela, who tagged Moncada between second and third, then touched second to retire Engel for the 8-5 triple play.La Russa’s jaw literally dropped after watching the play unfold.“Never seen one like it,” he said. “Potential difference maker at that point. Yoán was really aggressive, which is not the worst thing you can do when you play this game. Judgment was wrong and costly.”White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada is tagged out by Twins third baseman Gio Urshela for the second out of a triple play during the seventh inning Monday, July 4, 2022, at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Paul Beaty/AP)Engel said “everyone did the right thing but me” on the play.“I just made a bad read on it,” he said. “Obviously was watching (Buxton). He took his head off the ball to find the wall and when he looked toward the wall, I thought he was looking for the ball to get down and (I) made a bad play, made a mistake on it. And unfortunately cost us some runs right there most likely and probably would’ve gone on to win the game. It was tough. My mistake.”Engel absolved Moncada, saying he probably saw Engel take off early and just followed him.Advertisement“It was a big momentum shift in the game,” Engel said.It was the Twins’ first triple play since June 6, 2021, in Kansas City and the first triple play the Sox hit into since May 21, 2021, against the New York Yankees.La Russa employed closer Liam Hendriks, in his return from the injured list, in the eighth inning of a tie game. Hendriks struck out the side before Kendall Graveman pitched a scoreless ninth.“He was going to pitch once in the next two days,” La Russa said of using Hendriks early. “And we were all excited to get him out there in the eighth, gives you a great chance to win. It looked for a minute like there was going to be kind of a Hollywood ending. He was going to pitch and that was to me the time to use him. Get his inning in while we had a chance to win.”[ [Don’t miss] Liam Hendriks calls out gun laws after Highland Park shootings. ‘The access to the weaponry … totally needs to change,’ White Sox closer says. ]But there would be no Hollywood ending for the Sox, as Kelly imploded in the 10th.The Twins took the lead on Arraez’s hard single that went through Kelly, bringing home the ghost runner. La Russa was ejected for arguing a called ball, and though he was not in the dugout, the “Fire Tony” chant erupted after Kelly issued two walks to load the bases.AdvertisementJorge Polanco’s sacrifice fly made it 4-2 before Alex Kirilloff chased Kelly with a two-run single that broke the game open.“Ultimately it’s just pitching (bleep),” Kelly said. “I couldn’t locate pretty much any pitch.”The Twins are now 4-0 against the Sox and look like a team that doesn’t intend on letting them back into the race.“At any moment the coin can flip to our favor and we can start winning games against them,” Abreu said. “And that’s going to be our purpose (Tuesday), try to do our best and win our best and who knows? Maybe that will start a stretch of winning games against them.”

MILWAUKEE — Seiya Suzuki sprinted around the bases at American Family Field.He planned to keep running until told otherwise.AdvertisementChicago Cubs third base coach Willie Harris did not hesitate, emphatically waving him home. Suzuki dodged the Milwaukee Brewers’ relay throw and tag attempt by catcher Victor Caratini as his hand swiped the plate while eluding Caratini’s mitt. The inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning Monday marked a thrilling return to the lineup for Suzuki, who was activated from the injured list before the 5-2, 10-inning loss to the Brewers.AdvertisementSuzuki had not played since suffering a sprained left ring finger May 26. So as he sprinted during the ninth, he had one thought.[ [Don’t miss] Column: Red Sox rookie’s 1-star review of Wrigley Field hits a nerve with the Cubs ]“Stop me,” Suzuki joked through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “My legs were getting pretty tired. I was getting ready for somebody to say, ‘Stop.’”The Cubs, however, wasted Suzuki’s hustle. They were on the verge of pulling out a late victory thanks to the go-ahead inside-the-park homer with one out in the ninth.Ahead 2-0 in the count against tough Brewers lefty Josh Hader, Suzuki sliced a 95 mph fastball off the left-center-field wall. The ball rocketed past center fielder Jonathan Davis, allowing Suzuki to scamper around the bases and put the Cubs ahead 2-1.Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki slides safely home with an inside-the-park home run during the ninth inning against the Brewers on Monday, July 4, 2022, in Milwaukee. (Morry Gash/AP)Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.It’s one of the most exciting and rarest offensive plays in baseball: Suzuki’s inside-the-park homer marked the Cubs’ first since Javier Báez on Aug. 7, 2017, and only their eighth since 2000. It was also only the second game in 28 appearances this season that Hader has given up a home run. The other two homers off Hader came in the same June 7 game.But Cubs reliever David Robertson couldn’t lock down the bottom of the ninth. He struck out three but was hurt by two hits, a hit by pitch and a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to Christian Yelich to bring home the tying run. Robertson struck out Wily Adames to force extra innings, but the Cubs failed to take advantage of loading the bases in the 10th. Willson Contreras and Ian Happ struck out to strand the runners. Contreras came out of the game after his at-bat because of left hamstring tightness.[ [Don’t miss] Which Cubs players are likely to get traded? Here’s where things stand with the deadline 1 month away. ]Former Cubs catcher Caratini ended the game with a three-run homer against right-hander Scott Effross.AdvertisementLeft-hander Justin Steele delivered a standout performance that saw him tire near the end of his career-high 108 pitches. He held the Brewers hitless through four innings. They finally tallied a hit on Luis Urias’ well-placed grounder down the first-base line to lead off the fifth.Steele was one strike from finishing the seventh when the Brewers scored their lone run against him on Pedro Severino’s double that knotted the game at 1. Two walks by Steele sandwiched the tying hit.

The first popping noises sounded like firecrackers or maybe a gun salute honoring the American flag.Then someone screamed, “There’s a shooter.”AdvertisementAnd, in an instant, everyone understood…

The search for a 22-year-old man who authorities suspected of opening fire at the Highland Park Independence Day parade, killing at least six people and wounding…

It was back on June 7 that Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn first was asked about the possibility of a summer sell-off.“I really hope I don’t have to sit here in six weeks and eat these words,” he said. “But I don’t foresee us being in sell mode come the (trade) deadline, even with the (poor) run differential.”AdvertisementA couple of weeks remain before that deadline, but it appears as though the upcoming stretch of games against American League Central rivals will decide whether Hahn needs to make a tough call on the team’s direction.Monday’s opener of a three-game series against the division-leading Minnesota Twins kicked off the 15-game, eat-or-not-eat stretch, bringing a renewed sense of urgency to the clubhouse.Advertisement“The approach is the same,” manager Tony La Russa said before the game. “We’ve known we’re going to finish the last two weeks (before the All-Star break) in our division, seven games against the first-place team, so we’re excited.“It’s as close as we’ve been as a unit being competitive. It’s the most fun you can have. And they’re good.”The Twins are indeed good but far from great.They came into the series with a 45-37 record, 4½ games ahead of the third-place Sox. But they were 18-21 since May 25, failing to take advantage of the Sox’s mediocrity and put some space between them and their most serious rival.Still, the Twins swept the Sox in three games in Minnesota in mid-April and can separate themselves by the All-Star break if they continue to have Team La Russa’s number.And if that happens, Hahn might have to rethink this season and dump some unproductive salaries or soon-to-be free agents and try to regroup for 2023.[ [Don’t miss] Liam Hendriks calls out gun laws after Highland Park shootings. ‘The access to the weaponry … totally needs to change,’ White Sox closer says. ]“I’m not a GM,” closer Liam Hendriks said Monday. “I can’t speculate on what their plans are. But if we go through a tough stretch in these next couple weeks and we’re looking at the possibility of (being) 10 games back in the division, and that’s also out of the wild card …“There’s a lot of different things that come into it. Obviously we’re not thinking along those lines yet just due to the fact we know we’re in that stage now where this is the make-or-break stage. These (are) the make-or-break games coming through the system now.Advertisement“We’ve got what? The Twins, Detroit, Cleveland (and) Twins the rest of the time before the All-Star break? This is a real crunch time for us to make sure we have everything firing and (see) if we can claw our way back. Because if don’t and we struggle a little bit in these next couple of weeks, all of a sudden that kind of division lead looks insurmountable to get back (from).“We don’t doubt that we can, but it makes it a lot harder and we have to rely on other teams to take care of them as well. And that’s something we don’t want to do.”The Sox haven’t been in sell mode for quite a while, and it’s unclear which players would be dangled if they fall off the cliff before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.Pitchers Johnny Cueto, who started Monday, and Vince Velasquez are free agents after the season. But neither would bring back much in return and would be mostly salary dumps.First baseman José Abreu also is eligible for free agency in November, but the Sox would be reluctant to part with a mainstay of the organization who once said: “If the White Sox don’t sign me, I’ll sign myself.” Abreu is likely here until he retires.Catcher Yasmani Grandal is owed $18.25 million in 2023 and could be expendable if the Sox are out of contention and some team is willing to gamble he’s healthy. Pitcher Lucas Giolito won’t be a free agent until after 2023, but if the Sox don’t think they can re-sign him, they could begin shopping him around to see his value.Advertisement[ [Don’t miss] ‘We came to play this series’: Behind a dominant Lucas Giolito, the White Sox sweep the Giants ]It’s not a scenario Hahn wants to contemplate. And if the Sox start winning, he won’t need to.But they need to show some urgency if they hope to stop the speculation before it begins. Outfielder Adam Engel, who returned from the injured list Monday along with Hendriks, insisted “urgency” is a “buzzword” created by those outside the clubhouse.“This team is going to be a really, really good, scary team when we’re all there,” he said. “That’s what we’re all excited for, and to say that we’re more urgent than we were prior (to now), I don’t think would be the right phrasing for it.”Maybe, but it’s not scary yet. And Engel might not know much about Sox history. This is the organization that invented the term “White Flag Trade” in 1997 when Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf gave up on the season at the trade deadline despite the Sox trailing Cleveland by only 3½ games.It was Reinsdorf’s call to hire La Russa, and he’ll be the one deciding whether it’s worth the money to become a buyer at the trade deadline for a team that has yet to prove it can win consistently, in spite of its talent.Will Hahn have to eat his words? And are they empty calories?AdvertisementIt’s going to be an interesting two weeks for everyone involved.

What haunts longtime Highland Park resident Dana Gordon now are the words of the mother of one of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting victims.Just days ago,…

The Chicago White Sox consulted with Major League Baseball on whether to play Monday night’s game with the Minnesota Twins after shootings at a Fourth of…

The Chicago White Sox consulted with Major League Baseball on whether to play Monday night’s game with the Minnesota Twins after shootings at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park killed six and wounded more than two dozen others.“There was a conversation with MLB and they decided that we would play,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “It was considered.”AdvertisementAsked if he thought that was the right decision, La Russa said: “I think the people that make a decision like that are very aware of the biggest picture, and if they say play, I think we’re supposed to play.“I also know there are probably concerts going on tonight someplace and the whole city isn’t going to stop. But I know it was considered.”AdvertisementThe Sox did cancel the postgame fireworks show and scheduled a moment of silence before the game.The organization also sent out a statement expressing sympathy for the families and friends of the shooting victims.After the school shootings last month in Uvalde, Texas, the Sox and Cubs were part of an alliance of Chicago professional teams that donated a combined $300,000 to the Robb School Memorial Fund and the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation. But the teams declined to include messages supporting stricter gun laws, as other teams such as the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays did.The Sox made no mention of the need for sensible gun reform Monday, but closer Liam Hendriks made an impassioned plea for changes before the game.“Unfortunately in this day and age, it’s becoming all too commonplace,” Hendriks said of the Highland Park shootings. “The access to the weaponry that is being used in these things totally needs to change. Something needs to be done. Something needs to happen because there are way too many people losing their lives.“It’s not only about the people that lose their lives and the families of that, it’s the tragic (feeling) that goes throughout the entire community when people are concerned about leaving the house, about the day-to-day things like going to work or any number of these things.“I don’t think enough is being done, and there are two sides that need to meet somewhere in the middle and figure this out. Too many people are dying, and it’s no excuse to be like, ‘I’m on this side or that side.’ At some point things need to be done or we’re getting to the point where civilization as you know it may be ending, just due to the fact there are two drastically different sides.”Hendriks, who was born in Australia, said he is “baffled’ by American gun culture.Advertisement“That’s what America is known for,” he said. “There are a lot of things that are good over here, but you look at the news and it’s just a complete … I can walk into the stores as a non-American and buy a handgun in certain states. And that baffles me because I had to take a driving test when I came over here. I won’t have to take a test if I want to get a gun. That’s stupid. Whoever thought that was a great idea is an idiot.”Hendriks said a mass shooting in Australia in 1996 led to stricter gun laws and a significant decrease in gun-related suicides and homicides.“You can get access to guns in Australia,” he said. “You can go through gun clubs. But there are a lot more stipulations, and protection isn’t a good enough reason to get a gun.”

Brittney Griner has made an appeal to President Joe Biden in a letter passed to the White House through her representatives, saying she fears she might never return home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.”Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said the letter was delivered Monday. Most of the letter’s contents to President Biden remain private, though Griner’s representatives shared a few lines from the handwritten note.Advertisement″… As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote.“On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran,” the Phoenix Mercury center added. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.”AdvertisementThe two-time Olympic gold medalist is in the midst of a trial in Russia that began last week after she was arrested Feb. 17 on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. The trial will resume Thursday.Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in U.S. courts, acquittals can be overturned.Griner pleaded with Biden in the letter to use his powers to ensure her return.“Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore,” Griner wrote. “I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.”Griner has been able to have sporadic communications with family, friends and WNBA players through an email account her agent set up. The emails are printed out and delivered in bunches to Griner by her lawyer after they are vetted by Russian officials. Once the lawyers get back to their office, they’ll scan any responses from Griner and pass them back to the U.S. to send along.She was supposed to have a phone call with her wife on their anniversary, but it failed because of an “unfortunate mistake,” Biden administration officials said.Griner’s supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy. The State Department in May designated her as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator.Griner isn’t the only American being wrongfully detained in Russia. Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director, is serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction.