Chicago Sun Times

A 31-year-old man was driving a Chevy Malibu in the 5300 block of Dusable Lake Shore Drive when he lost control of the vehicle and hit several objects, police said. A 3-year-old girl was taken to the Comer Children’s Hospital where she later died.Sun-Times file A 3-year-old girl was killed and three others, including two children, injured in a crash Sunday in Hyde Park.A 31-year-old man was driving a Chevy Malibu in the 5300 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive about 11:48 a.m. when he lost control of the vehicle, police said. A 3-year-old girl was taken to the Comer Children’s Hospital, where she later died.A 9-month old girl, a 9-year-old girl and a 25-year-old woman all had non-life-threatening injuries, and were taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, Lurie Children’s Hospital and University of Chicago Medical Center.A citation was issued to the driver for improper lane change, police said. An investigation is ongoing.

The Cubs’ Dansby Swanson has been in the middle of a hitting funk this season. Quinn Harris/Getty Images Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson has struggled at the plate this season. Swanson is slashing .220/.287/.358 after Sunday’s 5-0 win over the Brewers.Because of Swanson’s proven track record, Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said they can help him with his approach and maintain his movements.The tough part is keeping confidence up.“We’re also human, right, and nobody wants to perform better than us,” said Swanson, who hit his first home run on Sunday since April 24. “At times, you can get so lost in results and numbers that you forget that your main job is to show up as yourself and be committed to who God made you to be. And it was kind of like my message to myself the last couple of days.”Kelly said the team incorporates video when they’re working with Swanson. The team will watch film with him to try and correct some aspects of his swing. The staff also has specific markers they look at for each player.“For a lot of our guys, it’s stride length, stride height and hand placement,” Kelly said. “We have a bunch of things that can measure that. A lot of times it just boils down to using your eyes, like ‘Hey, am I on time for the fastball? Did I get a good pitch to hit?’”Before Sunday’s game, Swanson hadn’t had a hit since Wednesday.“When you’re struggling at the plate, just getting good results, helping your team win, taking a really good swing and getting rewarded for it just feels good,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s a total weight off your shoulders.”On Sunday against the Brewers, Swanson was hitting more line drives and generating hard contact. He’s starting to see signs that his hitting is turning the page. “The last few days, there have been moments here and there where you start to feel a bit better and say, ‘Okay, I’m picking it up bit by bit,’” Swanson said. “And it’s a good feeling to carry that momentum into the rest of the season.”Crow-Armstrong’s Team USA experienceSwanson first learned about Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong through Brooks Webb, vice president of baseball operations for Excel Sports Management and former general manager for Vanderbilt baseball. Webb would oversee the younger Team USA baseball teams, and that experience helped Crow-Armstrong as a defender.“He [Webb] said he’s always been like this, but he’s just always had a good feel for routes, defense and pace of play,” Swanson said. “He’s just born with it.”At Team USA, Crow-Armstrong said he grew from the tryout process, where he was surrounded by future major-league players in Tigers outfielder Riley Greene, Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams and Diamondbacks center fielder Corbin Carroll. It was through tryouts he developed his feel for his glove that made him a highly-touted prospect.“You call it a kinesthetic feel,” Crow-Armstrong told the Sun-Times. “But that feel gives me the most confidence with my routes because I don’t feel that I have to be perfect on my routes.”This and ThatPitcher Kyle Hendricks threw a bullpen session on Sunday as he recovers from a back strain.Center fielder Cody Bellinger and right fielder Seiya Suzuki both hit and ran the bases on Sunday.

A man, 51, was in the 6800 block of South Prairie Avenue when he was hit in the legs and chest by gunfire, police said.Sun-Times file A man was killed in a shooting in Greater Grand Crossing on Sunday afternoon.A man, 51, was in the 6800 block of South Prairie Avenue about 3:13 p.m. when he was hit in the legs and chest by gunfire, police said. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he later died.No one is in custody.

The White Sox’ Gavin Sheets hits an RBI double against the Cardinals in St Louis. Sheets doubled two more times on Sunday. Joe Puetz/Getty Images ST. LOUIS — Playing every day matters. Just ask Gavin Sheets, whose 2024 pace has him on track for a career high 525 plate appearances.After securing a job in spring training that wasn’t guaranteed, and, after getting regular at-bats as the designated hitter when Eloy Jimenez got hurt, Sheets forced himself into the everyday lineup, even as a right fielder where he won’t come close to sniffing a Gold Glove. Providing steady production on a team that’s last in the majors in runs will do that. On deck: White Sox at RaysMonday: Mike Clevinger (season debut) vs. TBA, 5:50 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AMTuesday: Michael Soroka (0-3, 6.48) vs. Zach Eflin (1-4, 4.17), 5:50 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AMWednesday: Chris Flexen (1-3, 4.85) vs. Aaron Civale (2-2, 5.06), NBCSCH, 1000-AM “You definitely keep a rhythm,” Sheets told the Sun-Times of the advantage of playing every day before the White Sox’ 5-1 victory over the Cardinals Sunday. “But the biggest thing for me is not putting too much pressure on myself with every at-bat when you do. You know your at-bats are coming. It’s not like, hey if I don’t get a hit today I might not play this week. You take each at-bat as they come, you’re not as results oriented, you’re more process oriented.”Sheets is batting .263/.357/.444 with three homers and an .801 OPS that leads all Sox hitters by plenty – Jimenez is next at .697. Manager Pedro Grifol started the left-handed hitter against Cardinals left-handed opener, Matthew Liberatore, on Sunday.Such at-bats are “huge,” said Sheets, who grounded out twice against Liberatore – once at 101.8 exit velocity, and doubled against lefty John King in the eighth. Related There for the tanking: Embrace the White Sox’ pursuit of being the worst team in MLB history Report: White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks partnering with Standard Media Group, not Stadium Against right-hander Giovanny Gallegos, Sheets doubled in a four-run seventh inning. The second double was Sheets’ 10th of the season but his first hit against a lefty in 14 at-bats this season. He was .112/.165/.135 in his career against left-handers going in.“Really, the first time in my career lefties and righties so it’s been great,” he said. “Embraced it, enjoying the everyday soreness and all those aspects, making the most of it.” Crochet sharpLefty Garrett Crochet pitched six innings of one-run ball, striking out six, walking no one and allowing three hits including Willson Contreras’ homer and Lars Nootbar’s smash single that caromed off his left shin.”Just wrapped it up in between innings and was able to lock it in and get us through six,” Crochet said.”It felt pretty brutal. In my mind when I was doing the warmup pitches I was like, ‘I’m just buying time for someone in the bullpen to get hot.’ But I was able to find my footing there after a couple of throws, felt like I had some stability. Just kind of off the bone, so it was just that immediate reaction that really felt painful.”Crochet threw 88 pitches, 60 for strikes.Dad-gum adductorsInfielder Nicky Lopez, who looked a bit wobbly running out a ground ball Saturday, has some adductor soreness, Grifol said, and was given the day off.“But Nicky is a gamer,” Grifol said. “I’ve seen him play with all types of stuff. He never wants out of the lineup, he plays with pain, through pain. It was my choice not his, to make sure we calm that down a little bit and get him back to 100 percent.”Yoan Moncada is on the injured list with adductor strains and Jimenez spent time on the IL last month with a left adductor strain as well.Luis Robert Jr. (hip) is expected to begin his rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte in about a week.  Related White Sox should be open to all trades, including for Luis Robert Jr., Garrett Crochet Mike Clevinger close to returnThe Sox are officially TBA for their series opener at the Rays Monday, but the plan is for Mike Clevinger to make his season debut. Dominic Leone “feeling good”Reliever Dominic Leone, who left Saturday’s game with low back stiffness after facing one batter, was well enough to throw a medicine ball and baseball Sunday.“He came in feeling good today,” Grifol said.

The White Sox’ Bryan Ramos hits a sacrifice fly against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Sunday in St. Louis.Joe Puetz/Getty Images  ST. LOUIS — Eloy Jimenez knows what Bryan Ramos got to experience this weekend.Watching the White Sox’ top third base prospect break into the major leagues, seeing his angst, enjoying his success and the whirl wind of emotion took Jimenez back five years.They were nice memories.“It reminded me of me of 2019 when I first came up,” Jimenez said after he and Ramos fueled the Sox’ 5-1 victory against the Cardinals Sunday at Busch Stadium. “He was very anxious but doing well.“He was excited. To be here. It’s a privilege to come to the big leagues, and especially when you are Latin. We have the opportunity, but not too many guys make it. But to be one of them is good.”Ramos, called up from Double-A Birmingham Saturday when third baseman Danny Mendick — the regular third baseman after Yoan Moncada went down with an adductor strain — landed on the injured list with a stiff back. Related White Sox third-base prospect Bryan Ramos does more than talk a good game Ramos, the Sox’ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, made his debut defensively in the last two innings of Saturday’s 6-5 win and, in the starting lineup for the first time Sunday, lifted a sacrifice fly against Matthew Libertore in his first plate appearance in the second. In a four-run seventh that broke the game open and sent the 8-26 Sox to their fifth win in nine games and second series win in the last three, Ramos singled for his first hit and scored a run.“Last week we had the Tommy Pham effect. Right now we have the Bryan Ramos effect, so let’s keep it rolling,” said left-hander Garrett Crochet, who pitched six innings of one-run ball.There was a Jimenez effect, too, in the form of a 418-foot homer to right center against Giovanny Gallego breaking a 1-all tie and starting the four-run seventh. As manager Pedro Grifol said, things are always better for Jimenez, who homered for the fourth time, when he’s lifting the ball and hitting it to center and right fields.Jimenez noted the Twins’ and Rays’ success against him in recent series.“So to stay that way like in ’19, when I had the most homers I hit [31] and pretty much all my homers went to the other side, is good. So hitting the ball that way means I’m getting better.”A few lockers away, in a corner of the visitors clubhouse, Ramos was beaming. Like Jimenez, Ramos does his interviews in English. Related Tommy Pham is quickly adapting to White Sox’ clubhouse “I feel like there’s nothing better than this,” Ramos said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a kid playing baseball in Cuba and then was trying to sign in the Dominican, since then that was my dream to get to the big leagues and get a hit and all this, it’s like, I’m way too happy right now.”Ramos said he was keeping it simple at the plate, trying to get the ball in the air for the sacrifice fly and trying to go the other way when he singled to center.“And I get a base hit, perfect,” he said.”I don’t want to try to be the hero, I want to work for the team. My goal was to get the ball to the other side of the field but I get a base hit so I’ll take that.”Enduring a historically bad start, the Sox took the win and their first road series win in open arms. And they’re 2-0 with Ramos, who figures to get plenty of playing time while Mendick is on the IL.”Ramos is a presence out there,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He looks the part when he stands in the box. It’s fun to have him here because he’s dangerous. And he can run and he’s athletic. It’s going to be fun to watch him play.””Today was more tranquilo but yesterday was my first game and I just came to play defense and man, this place is loud,” Ramos said. “When they go crazy… But I said to myself, ‘We’re here so we’ve got to play.’ I tried to stay as calm as I can.”