Holmes (4-5) earned the win against the Royals on Saturday, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. He struck out one.
Making both his Cubs team debut and return from nearly a two-month absence with a fractured fibula, Holmes was mostly ineffective and failed to turn in a single clean inning of work. The 33-year-old right-hander managed to throw 70 pitches in what was arguably a season-worst outing, but his workload restrictions are likely to loosen in future starts. Holmes will aim to rebound in his next scheduled appearance against the Cardinals, still holding a strong 2.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 46:20 K:BB over 56.2 innings.