Cubs newcomer Clay Holmes and his sinker were back in form.
Sensational form.
Holmes was dominant in his second start with the Cubs and in his home debut at Wrigley Field, tossing one-hit ball into the seventh inning and leading the North Siders past the Cardinals 3-0 on Friday.
Seiya Suzuki hit his 21st home run, 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 the National League Central-leading Brewers with their ninth victory in their last 11 games.
Less than 24 hours after getting one-hit in a 7-0 loss to the Nationals in Washington, the Cubs turned the tables by shutting down the Cardinals.
Holmes walked only one in 6⅔ innings and bounced back impressively from a rocky first outing with the Cubs after they had acquired him from the Mets at the trade deadline. Holmes, 33, allowed four runs and six hits in four innings in a 6-3 loss last Saturday to the Royals after coming off the 60-day injured list and starting a big-league game for the first time since May 15.
Against the Cardinals, Holmes was dealing from the get-go, retiring the first 16 hitters he faced before Jose Fermin dumped a single into right field with one out in the sixth. Eleven of his 20 outs came on grounders, 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? That kind of contact.’’
Holmes suffered a broken right fibula while pitching for the Mets against the Yankees at Citi Field when a 111 mph line drive off the bat of Spencer Jones struck him on the shin. He had several rehab outings in the Mets’ system before being dealt to the Cubs.
‘‘It’s one thing to be healthy, and it’s another thing to be in your best compete-mode self,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘I don’t think that happens overnight.
‘‘The [rough first 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 get back to being himself.’’
Holmes was a two-time All-Star with the Yankees as a reliever. He became a starter last season with the Mets, going 12-8 with a 3.53 ERA. 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. I think [Cubs pitching coach] Tommy [Hottovy] is really good at communicating things in a simple way. [There were] one or two things we were just trying to nail this week, and we were able to do that.’’
Holmes threw 80 pitches, 50 of them for strikes before relievers Ryan Rolison, Ryan Zeferjahn and Jacob Webb finished a three-hitter for the Cubs’ fifth shutout 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 — the slider and sweeper and 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.’’
Holmes exited to an ovation from the full house of 40,374
‘‘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.’’
Nos. 1 through 9, no matter where Counsell puts them in lineup, these hitters can put up numbers.
Manager Craig Counsell didn’t specify any restrictions for Cabrera in his return but said, “I think normal first start off the injured list caution.”
The Cubs whittled the Brewers’ lead down to three games coming into Thursday, as close as they had been in the NL Central standings since late May. But before they can start figuring out playoff seeding, there’s 40 games left to play in the regular season.