Craig Kimbrel closes out debut for Cubs against Braves

Craig Kimbrel got a little help settling in at Wrigley Field.

Kimbrel dodged trouble for a save in his season debut when new teammate Anthony Rizzo dived into first base for the final out, and the Chicago Cubs rallied from five runs down to beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-7, on Thursday.

“The first one’s always the tough one,” Kimbrel said.

Called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, Kimbrel struck out Brian McCann looking and induced a groundout from Johan Camargo to start the ninth inning. Ronald Acuna Jr. then hit a ground-rule double into Wrigley Field’s ivy, and Dansby Swanson walked on four pitches.

Freddie Freeman grounded sharply down the first base line, and Rizzo fielded and had to dive for the bag to beat Freeman after Kimbrel failed to cover first.

“I feel like I’m still ramping up a little bit” Kimbrel said. “It might be a little bit until I’m full bore with all I got, but right now it felt pretty good.”

Kimbrel earned his 334th career save and did it against his original team. The Cubs finalized a three-year, $43 million contract with 31-year-old free agent on June 7, then sent the righthander to the minors to get himself ready.

He hadn’t pitched in the majors since facing the Dodgers in the World Series as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Victor Caratini’s two-run homer capped the Cubs’ four-run fifth inning that put them ahead for good. Kyle Schwarber also went deep for the Chicago, which got three RBIs from Jason Heyward.

Freeman hit his 22nd homer, a two-run shot, and Ozzie Albies continued to feast on Cubs pitching with a solo drive and single for two RBIs. Swanson drove in three in the final regular season game between the NL Central and NL East leaders.

Pirates 10, Astros 0: Josh Bell homered for the second straight game as one of five home runs by visiting Pittsburgh.

Former Astro Joe Musgrove (6-7) threw six scoreless innings for the win and Kevin Newman, Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Jacob Stallings added home runs for the Pirates to send Houston to its ninth loss in 11 games.

Rangers 3, Tigers 1: Joey Gallo hit two solo homers and Ariel Jurado (5-3) threw seven shutout innings as visiting Texas completed a three-game sweep.

Rays 5, Twins 2: Yandy Diaz hit a sacrifice fly for visiting Tampa Bay in the 18th inning to break a tie that lasted since the second, and the Rays finally pulled away to avoid being swept in a series by Minnesota for the first time in 13 years.

Ryan Yarbrough (7-3), the eighth reliever and the 22nd player used by the Rays during the game that lasted 5:42 after rain delayed the first pitch by 57 minutes, threw three scoreless innings for the victory.

Brewers 4, Mariners 2: Orlando Arcia hit a three-run homer as host Milwaukee snapped a two-game skid and avoided being swept by last-place Seattle.

Chase Anderson (4-2) bounced back after he allowed six runs in his previous start. Anderson allowed two runs, one earned, and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings.