Key takeaways: Cubs 3, Cardinals 0

CHICAGO -- As Clay Holmes walked off the mound on Friday afternoon, he was greeted with a standing ovation from the Cubs fans getting their first look at the pitcher at Wrigley Field. Holmes raised his glove in appreciation of the well-earned reception.

Holmes’ signature sinker was working to near perfection in his first outing for the Cubs at the Friendly Confines, setting the tone for a 3-0 victory over the rival Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series. The veteran starter relinquished just one hit and worked into the seventh to help Chicago to a 10-3 record in August.

“That was great,” Holmes said. “That’s what you imagine and you kind of hope for when you put on a Cubs jersey, is pitching at Wrigley, the Cubs uniform on, Friday day game. It’s special. It’s iconic. To do it with this team and these guys that have been so great at welcoming me in was a lot of fun."

Here were three keys to Friday’s win:

1. Holmes finds his rhythm

After his Cubs debut on Saturday, Holmes pointed to his sinker being up in the zone a bit too much and called the issue an easy fix for him ahead of his next start. Against the Cardinals, the veteran righty sure looked like he made the proper adjustment.

Holmes was perfect against the first 16 batters he faced until Cardinals left fielder José Fermín shot a low sinker into right for a one-out single in the sixth. It was a minor setback, as Holmes induced a groundout against each of the next two batters to escape unscathed.

Overall, Holmes gave the North Siders 6 2/3 scoreless innings in his second taste of pitching in front of Chicago’s elite defense. The right-hander only yielded the one hit, struck out three and generated 11 outs via ground balls in an 80-pitch (50 strike) performance.

"That was excellent," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "As a sinkerballer pitcher, that’s what the game looks like when they’re having their day, right? The ground balls. Kind of the contact, but it’s weak contact a lot. He pitched wonderfully."

That was an impressive showing after Holmes allowed four runs in four innings against the Royals in his first start for the Cubs since being acquired at the Trade Deadline. Then again, that outing in Kansas City was his first since May 15, following a comeback from a fractured right fibula.

2. Seiya’s scorching second half

The spotlight has been fixed on Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong for a few months, but do not overlook what slugger Seiya Suzuki has also been doing to help drive the offense.

In the sixth inning, Suzuki jumped on a 2-1 changeup from Cardinals reliever George Soriano, sending it arcing high over left field. Fermín drifted back to the wall, but the towering blast carried over for a game-changing, three-run homer. It gave the Cubs outfielder 21 blasts on the season.

“All the pitchers were working really hard,” Suzuki said via his interpreter, Edwin Stanberry. “So I was just hoping in that moment, I want to get that big hit and drive in the runs.”

Heading into Friday’s game, Suzuki had a .923 OPS since the All-Star break, compared to an .811 OPS before the season’s intermission. His 156 wRC+ in the second half ranked ninth in the National League among qualified hitters, trailing only Alex Bregman (165) on the Cubs in that span.

Suzuki added a double in the eighth inning, giving him a .284/.384/.579 slash line with 11 homers, 12 doubles and 42 RBIs in his last 40 games. In that span, his season OPS has climbed to .849 from .774.

3. Lineup struggles to solve Liberatore

Holmes against Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore was a study in contrast. While the Cubs’ starter aggressively uses his sinker to entice contact, Liberatore leaned on breaking balls with the goal of missing bats.

Liberatore ended with 16 whiffs (swinging strikes), compared to three for Holmes, but both pitchers handcuffed the opposite lineup for much of Friday’s game. In fact, the starting duo combined to go 28 up, 28 down before Nico Hoerner delivered a one-out single to right off Liberatore in the fifth inning.

In the sixth, the Cubs managed a walk (Tyrone Taylor) and another hit (Dansby Swanson) off Liberatore before the lefty got Crow-Armstrong to pop out in foul territory. It was at that juncture that Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol handed the ball to Soriano to face Suzuki, who capitalized on the first crack at a pitcher other than Liberatore.