Clay Holmes made his debut with the Cubs on Saturday in his first major league start since May. It didn't go exactly as Holmes or the Cubs would have hoped, but it didn't go so bad to think that the trade is a bust. This was a highly anticipated start, and the excitement was mounting. In a post game interview, Holmes himself expressed dissatisfaction with his own performance, but acknowledged that it was good to return to the show.
Holmes knows returning was only the first step
"It's good to be back. You know, it took a lot of work to get back to this point, and it definitely felt good to just be back in the big league game. You know, obviously that's not the full goal. You know, you want to be back and helping the team win games, and just wasn't quite sharp enough tonight. But it was a good step."Clay Holmes
Clay Holmes on his first outing as a Cub ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/CMRYXzZJh1
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 9, 2026
It's important to acknowledge just how long it's really been since Holmes was on a big-league mound. May might seem like it was only a couple months ago, but in the baseball world, that's 70+ games ago. For Holmes to be back on the bump must have felt like a welcome homecoming.
Holmes threw for four innings and allowed six hits, one of which was a solo home run to give the Royals the lead that the Cubs wouldn't ever get back. Across those four innings, Holmes gave up four earned runs with only a single strikeout and two walks. Not the greatest start in the world, but things could have gone much worse.
Holmes is here to bolster the rotation and to provide a reliable arm that's capable of going deep into the ball game. Holmes is well aware he'll need to do better than he showed on Saturday, as is evident from his comments. He summed things up perfectly, and one could argue that this game represents the bigger picture. It was a step in the right direction, but we've still got plenty of distance to cover.
One uneven outing should not define Holmes’ time in Chicago, especially after such a long layoff. The Cubs need him to turn that encouraging first step into winning baseball sooner rather than later.
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