CHICAGO — Jameson Taillon made his return to the mound on Sunday, making a rehab start with Triple-A Iowa.

The baseball gods didn’t give him the warmest of welcomes. Taillon allowed seven earned runs on seven hits across three innings of work, hit two batters and struck out just one. He threw 64 pitches, 42 of them for strikes.

“Obviously, I would love to get results,” Taillon told Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register after his start. “The first one, I’m just glad to get it out of the way.”

The outing was Taillon’s first taste of competition since his June 29 start in Houston, in which he threw 4.2 innings of two-run ball. Less than a week after that, he strained his right calf while doing sprints in a training session. The Cubs subsequently placed him on the 15-day IL on July 4.

[READ: Cubs place Jameson Taillon on IL, recall Jordan Wicks from Triple-A]

But back at Wrigley Field on Monday evening, Taillon didn’t seem too fazed by what went down in Des Moines. His calf is feeling good now, he said, so the focus is getting his command back on track.

“I definitely started begging to not have to go back (to Iowa),” Taillon said. “But I don’t help the team if I don’t come back sharp. I think the key is to tighten things up, get really sharp down there, and come back when I’m ready.”

Next in Taillon’s rehab timeline is a bullpen session on Wednesday. Another start in Iowa on Friday will follow, despite Taillon joking that it’s against his wishes. But as he spoke before Monday’s game, the Cubs didn’t feel the need to rush him back into the rotation.

Michael Soroka, one of the Cubs’ four trade deadline additions, slotted into the rotation to make his first start as a Cub on Monday evening. However, Soroka left Monday’s game after the second inning with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Ben Brown.

There’s also the impending return of Javier Assad, who has yet to pitch this season after a re-injured oblique set him back in March. Assad allowed one earned run in 3.2 innings in his rehab start for Iowa on July 30.

“It’s exciting. We have a lot of good arms,” Taillon said. “I’m excited to see Mike throw tonight and Javi, I know, looked good in his last outing. So we’ve got a lot of depth. It’s all hands on deck, whatever role they need from everyone. We just need to put our best foot forward.”

The ultimate goal for Taillon, who has a 4.44 ERA in 17 starts with the Cubs this year, is to get right for a playoff run. The Cubs stand in first place in the NL Wild Card race and are two games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the division.

“(I want to) get better every day. When I’m back, we’re in a pennant race,” Taillon said. “We have the playoffs coming up and I’m pretty aware of all that. I need to come back ready to help — not just come back.”