DETROIT -- This was the Jack Flaherty the Tigers remembered from last season. It just took a while to get him back, even though Detroit signed him in February.
“He's one of the best,” catcher Dillon Dingler said, “and it shows.”
When Flaherty lost five consecutive starts from April 15 through May 10, he had a combination of bad fortunes, bad run support and some bad pitches, including a four-homer barrage from the Rangers in the last game of that stretch. As he blew fastballs past Giants hitters and froze them on curveballs Tuesday night, none of that mattered.
“He was really good,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Flaherty's six scoreless innings and eight strikeouts, “and it was really good to see. He put a lot into his work the last couple times. He always works hard, but it’s nice to see him go out and not only get into the outing -- he got some big outs in the first [inning] when they put some pressure on him -- but man, he hung in there all the way through.”
Flaherty was nasty, and the Tigers needed him to be in order to hang on as Giants ace Logan Webb settled in. And as Detroit celebrated its third straight win with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night at Comerica Park, its rotation is looking more formidable again.
“Just another good step in the right direction,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty’s work continued a string of stingy starting pitching over Detroit’s three-game winning streak. Add in Tarik Skubal’s shutout on Sunday and Keider Montero’s five scoreless frames on Monday, and Tigers starters have combined for 20 consecutive scoreless innings.
Tuesday’s six innings from Flaherty came largely without his slider, the pitch he likes to play off his fastball as well as his slower, bigger curveball. Mike Yastrzemski hit the slider for a single on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the game, then he struggled to throw it for strikes the rest of the inning. Flaherty eventually got it back in the zone, drawing five called strikes, but the Giants connected on all five of their swings against it with an average exit velocity of 101.1 mph.
The curveball, with five whiffs and five foul balls on 11 swings, proved crucial.
“I feel like this team is pretty keen to hitting sliders,” Dingler said. “The bigger [breaking ball] kept them a little bit more off-balance, and once he was able to show that he could put it around the plate instead of burying it, I feel like it did well for him and also opened up the heater.”
Flaherty's fastball, meanwhile, was arguably the most effective he has thrown all season. Opponents entered the day hitting .289 off his heater this season, including eight home runs, with just a 12-percent whiff rate. On Tuesday, Flaherty not only put the fastball where he wanted, with 13 called strikes, but he had Giants hitters reacting late, with seven of his 13 whiffs coming off the heater.
“I was able to command it pretty well today to both sides of the plate,” Flaherty said. “Being able to pitch off your fastball and get guys on their heels, it opens up everything else. For me, it was continuing to try to move better and stay within myself. If I can execute and locate, it opens up the rest of the arsenal.”
Both hits off Flaherty were leadoff singles in the first two innings, starting with Yastrzemski’s single to open the game. Giants designated hitter Wilmer Flores nearly slugged San Francisco into the lead, but Riley Greene snared his line drive at the foot of the left-field fence. After hitting Jung Hoo Lee with a pitch, Flaherty recovered to retire Matt Chapman on a called third strike, a 94 mph fastball on the outer edge.
Former Tigers prospect Willy Adames singled to lead off the second inning, but he was erased when first baseman Spencer Torkelson made a nice grab on a Patrick Bailey sharp grounder to start an inning-ending double play.
Greene provided the bulk of Flaherty’s run support with a three-hit game, including an RBI double to score Gleyber Torres in the opening inning and a single to plate Colt Keith in the third. Wenceel Pérez, reinstated from the 60-day injured list for the game with Matt Vierling going on the 10-day IL, hit a second-inning solo homer on his first swing of the season.
Webb kept the damage there with 10 strikeouts over six innings, his third double-digit-strikeout game of the season. But by then, Flaherty was rolling, retiring his final 11 batters in order before leaving to standing ovation.
“I’m proud of him,” Hinch said, “because he does battle perfection, like a lot of guys do, but it doesn’t faze him start to start. His reset button’s gotten pretty good.”