Cubs newcomer Clay Holmes and his sinker were back in form.
Sensational form.
Holmes was dominant in his second start and home debut with the Cubs, tossing one-hit ball into the seventh inning and leading the North Siders past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Seiya Suzuki hit his 21st homer, a three-run shot in the sixth, to break a scoreless tie and added a double in the eighth for his fourth two-hit game in his last six. The Cubs kept the pressure on National League Central-leading Milwaukee with their ninth win in 11.
Seiya later!
Seiya Suzuki gives the @Cubs the lead 💪 pic.twitter.com/aIFWLngK92
— MLB (@MLB) August 14, 2026
Less than 24 hours after getting one-hit in a 7-0 loss in Washington, the Cubs turned the tables by shutting down their next opponent.
Holmes walked just one in 6⅔ innings and bounced back impressively from a rocky first outing with the Cubs, last Saturday at Kansas City, after they had acquired him from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. The 33-year-old right-hander allowed four runs on six hits in four innings in a 6-3 loss to the Royals as he came back off the 60-day injured list and started a big league game for the first time since May 15.
Against the Cards, Holmes was dealing from the get-go, retiring the first 16 hitters before José Fermin dumped a single into right field with one out in the sixth. Eleven of his 20 outs were on groundballs, and he struck out three.
“That was excellent,” manager Craig Counsell said. “As a sinkerball pitcher that’s what the game looks like when they’re having their day, right? So all the groundballs, the kind of contact.”
Holmes suffered a broken right fibula in the fourth inning of the Mets’ game against the Yankees at Citi Field when a 111-mph liner off the bat of Spencer Jones struck him on the shin. The righty had several minor league rehab outings in the Mets system before joining the Cubs.
“It’s one thing to be healthy and it’s another thing to be in your best compete-mode self, and I don’t think that happens overnight,” Counsell said.
“The first one (rough start) was a little expected almost, but I think what’s so impressive is to see the adjustments that he made so quickly to kind of of get back to being himself.”
Holmes, was a two-time All-Star with the Mets, but as a reliever. He became a starter last season, going 12-8 with a 3.53 ERA for New York.
His combined record this season is 5-5 with a 2.56 ERA in 11 starts.
“Coming back from an injury, it’s always a process,” Holmes said. “I probably wasn’t as bad as my stat line last time and probably wasn’t as good as my one this time.
“In-between starts, there were some simple things that we worked on,” he added. “I think Tommy (Cubs pitching coach Hottovy) really good at communicating things in a simple way, and you know, one or two things we were just trying to nail this week and we were able to do that.”
Holmes threw 80 pitches this time, 50 for strikes before relievers Ryan Rolison, Ryan Zeferjahn and Jacob Webb finished a three-hitter and the Cubs’ fifth shutout win this season. Webb worked around a single in the ninth for his ninth save.
“It feels like getting the ball on the ground comes natural, Holmes said. “Where I was at today, I was able to make enough pitches to, you know — the slider and sweeper and for the sinker — to create a mix and get people to (hit the ball) on the ground.
“That’s always a goal for me to try to get a ground ball within three pitches and move on to the next batter.”
The righty exited to an ovation from the full house of 40,374
“You know that’s what you imagine, what you kind of hope for when you throw in a Cubs jersey,” Holmes said. “Pitching at Wrigley, Cubs uniform and a Friday day game. It’s special. It’s iconic.”
