CHICAGO — Craig 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.
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 doubled 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.
Kimbrel earned his 334th career save and did it against his original team. The Cubs finalized a $43 million, three-year contract with 31-year-old free agent on June 7, then sent the right-hander to the minors to get himself ready.
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 RBI from Jason Heyward on a warm day at Wrigley Field with steady wind blowing out to left.
PHILLIES 6, METS 3: Jean Segura hit a three-run, walk-off homer against Edwin Diaz moments after Maikel Franco hit a tying, two-run shot against the closer in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Philadelphia beat visiting New York to complete a four-game sweep.
New York’s Todd Frazier hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Hector Neris with one out in the ninth, but the Phillies rallied in the bottom of the inning.
Diaz (1-5) walked Cesar Hernandez to start, and Franco followed with his third homer of the series. He hit go-ahead, two-run homers in each of the first two games. Pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez walked with one out and advanced to second on Scott Kingery’s hard-hit, bad-hop single off Frazier’s glove at third.
Segura then slammed his 10th homer into the seats in left. He leaped on his way down the first-base line and got mobbed by teammates after circling the bases.
NATIONALS 8, MARLINS 5: Juan Soto and Victor Robles each homered, and Washington rallied to win at Miami to sweep a three-game series.
Robles and Matt Adams homered against starter Sandy Alcantara during a five-run sixth inning that erased a 4-1 deficit. Kurt Suzuki also went deep, and Trea Turner had two hits and two stolen bases for the Nationals, who have won 8 of 10.
Stephen Strasburg (9-4) won his 10th straight decision against Miami after allowing four runs and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out four on a season-high 111 pitches. He hasn’t lost in Miami since 2015.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RANGERS 3, TIGERS 1: Joey Gallo hit two solo homers and Ariel Jurado threw seven shutout innings as visiting Texas completed a three-game sweep of Detroit.
Texas has won five straight games, matching a season high.
Gallo led off the second inning by driving Spencer Turnbull’s pitch deep into the right-field seats. With two outs in the fourth inning, Gallo lined Nick Ramirez’s pitch over the left-field wall. Gallo has 19 homers on the season.
Jurado (5-3) allowed six hits as he improved to 4-1 as a starter this season. He struck out four and walked one. Jurado has won four of his past five decisions.
RAYS 5, TWINS 2: Yandy Díaz hit a sacrifice fly for Tampa Bay in the 18th inning to break a tie that lasted since the second, and the visiting Rays finally pulled away to avoid being swept in a series by the Twins 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 hours, 42 minutes – after rain delayed the first pitch by 57 minutes – threw three scoreless innings for the victory.
After the first eight relievers for the Twins allowed just two hits over a combined 10 innings, Ryne Harper (3-1) faltered in the 18th while pitching for the third straight game and the sixth time in the past 10 days.
The Rays loaded the bases with nobody out, just as they did in the 10th against Blake Parker when they failed to score. Díaz hit a medium-depth fly ball with one out to left fielder Luis Arraez, whose strong throw was a little too far up the first-base line for catcher Jason Castro to catch and make the tag before Brandon Lowe’s left hand grazed the plate on his head-first slide.
Willy Adames and Ji-Man Choi followed with RBI singles to give the Rays some insurance and salvage a 3-7 record from this three-time zone trip.
Just 13 days ago, they led the American League East by a half-game over the New York Yankees. Now they’re 6½ games back.
INTERLEAGUE
BREWERS 4, MARINERS 2: Orlando Arcia hit a three-run homer and host Milwaukee avoided a three-game sweep.
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.
He also kicked off a four-run fourth inning with an RBI sac bunt with the bases loaded. Arcia followed and slammed Mike Leake’s next pitch to right for a three-run homer before Leake retired Yasmani Grandal to end the inning.
PIRATES 10, ASTROS 0: Josh Bell homered for the second straight game as one of five home runs as Pittsburgh routed visiting Houston.
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.
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