With a banged-up pitching staff searching for solutions, Jack Flaherty found his former self on Wednesday night.
Shades of 2024: Flashback Jack.
That was the only silver lining of the Tigers' 4-0 loss to the Red Sox that sealed a three-game sweep for Boston at Comerica Park.
Flaherty struck out 10 and walked one over five innings, allowing four runs -- two earned -- mostly because of sloppy defense behind him. A hot ground ball that got through shortstop Kevin McGonigle and a dropped foul pop-up by Spencer Torkelson helped the Red Sox plate two in the third, and an error by third baseman Colt Keith gifted them two more runs in the fourth.
But this was the best Flaherty has thrown the ball all season after pitching to a 5.90 ERA in his first seven starts. He trimmed down his repertoire, pounded the zone and missed bats. He struck out the first five and last four batters he faced. He held his velocity into the fifth inning, his final pitch of the night a 95 mph heater at the top of the zone for a swinging third strike.
"Much better job of getting ahead and filling up the strike zone and being on the attack more," Flaherty said. "Felt like command of my fastball was a lot better. The breaking stuff, some frustration there, in two-strike counts threw some pretty non-competitive pitches. I’m going to be critical of that stuff, but there’s a lot to build off of in the way I was able to command and get ahead of guys."
Flaherty did lose the zone at times in the third and fourth. He spiked several two-strike curveballs in the dirt and missed badly with a few two-strike fastballs, including one that hit catcher Carlos Narváez in the chest; Narváez would come around to score Boston's second run.
But on the whole, Flaherty's three-pitch mix of his four-seam, slider and knuckle-curve was highly effective. He did not throw either a sinker or a changeup for the first time this season. It wasn't a pre-calculated plan, Flaherty said, so much as a reaction to what was working on Wednesday night. And it was the sort of outing that A.J. Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter have been dying to see.
"Everything is game by game," said Flaherty. "Threw a handful of sinkers against them last time (April 20th). Felt like I had a much better four-seam fastball today and really good spin, so we were able to just use that. I’m not sure that will be there in another game, but today that just worked out."
So, we'll see how Flaherty looks his next time out. At the very least, his ability to repeat his mechanics and pretty consistently hit his spots was a real step forward, at a time where the Tigers really need him. Tarik Skubal (elbow surgery), Justin Verlander (hip) and Casey Mize (groin) are all sidelined and Framber Valdez is serving a five-game suspension for plunking Trevor Story on Tuesday night.
That leaves Flaherty as the only original member of the Tigers' rotation who's currently available. Mize and Verlander are on the mend and Valdez will only miss one start, but Flaherty is still crucially important to how the Tigers navigate the next few weeks, and potentially the rest of the season. He looked like a luxury in the rotation entering the season. Now he looks like the X-factor.
Flaherty was dominant for the Tigers in 2024 before being dealt to the Dodgers at the deadline. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.00 in 18 starts with Detroit was one of the best in baseball. He hasn't been the same since. He walked more batters through his first five starts this season than he did throughout his tenure with Detroit in 2024.
He leads the majors in walks (26) and hit batters (5) through eight starts this year. Hence why it was so encouraging to see him flip the script on Wednesday night.
"A lot of credit to everyone," Flaherty said. "These guys have continued to pick me up from each start where things have been pretty rough, Fet and A.J. just continue to push me forward and keep staying on it. We just keep working, keep working, that’s all I can think about doing, continuing to fight for these guys, fight for everybody in here, and just continue to go out there and give them everything I got."
