Craig Kimbrel News: Clean inning in return to Atlanta

Kimbrel gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless inning during Friday's extra-inning loss to the Giants. He struck out one.

Making his first appearance for Atlanta since the end of the 2014 regular season, the 37-year-old right-hander gave up a single and a walk but saw both baserunners erased on a caught stealing and a pickoff, before he struck out old NL East foe Wilmer Flores to end the seventh inning. It was a fairly high-leverage spot for Kimbrel in his season debut, but he's a long way from his peak as the game's most dominant reliever -- per David O'Brien of the Athletic, Kimbrel averaged just 91.5 mph with his fastball Friday. Still, with Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias struggling badly and no one else in the bullpen stepping up as a viable replacement, there may be a path for Kimbrel to add to his career total of 440 saves.