Look for hot Rizzo to stay in Cubs leadoff spot
The way things look for the Chicago Cubs, first baseman Anthony Rizzo could well be the team's leadoff hitter the rest of the season.
It didn't hurt that Rizzo singled leading off the first inning and hit a grand slam in the third as the Cubs went on to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 17-8 at Wrigley Field.
"I think I might be committed to that right now," said manager Joe Maddon. "Put Zo (Ben Zobrist) somewhere in the middle. Zo in the World Series was really good in the middle of the batting order. Zo's not going to be able to do it every day. I don't want to keep moving Anthony around. We'll see how it plays. Anthony's given us a lot of good results by doing that. The big part is to try to get 8 and 9 on base."
Big day for Hoerner:
Rookie Nico Hoerner made his Wrigley Field debut and homered in his first at-bat, in the first inning Friday.
He wound up with 4 RBI, making him the first Cubs since at least 1908 with multiple 4-RBI games in his first five major-league games.
Hoerner had his contract selected from Class AA Tennessee this week with shortstops Javier Baez (thumb) and Addison Russell (concussion protocol) unavailable.
"It's not what I expected I'd be doing," Hoerner said. "But it's probably been the best week of my life, so nothing really to change there.
"There's a lot of noise and a lot of outside factors that can cause distractions, but the good thing here is everyone is focused on winning so that takes the selfish part of baseball out of it. You don't worry about your personal situation at all that normally you might be thinking about. It's just about winning."
Joe Maddon was impressed.
"The kid was sitting somewhere on the couch doing nothing, thinking that his season's over," Maddon said. "All of a sudden you get a phone call, and you show up in San Diego, and you do what you've been doing. We know he's good, but beyond that, it's him, not overwhelmed by anything."
Kimbrel throws:
Closer Craig Kimbrel (elbow) threw a 24-pitch bullpen session Thursday in San Diego. He threw Friday on the outfield grass at Wrigley Field. Kimbrel is likely to throw another bullpen session this weekend.
"Based on how he feels, pretty optimistic," said team president Theo Epstein. "You're going to be cautious until you see the results in the bullpen."
This and that:
Nicholas Castellanos hit his 50th double of the season and his 26th home run, tying his career high, set in 2017 ... The Cubs recalled reliever Dillon Maples from Class AAA Iowa. They have 37 players on the active roster ... Alec Mills earned his first career save by pitching the final 3 innings.