Jack Flaherty made a strong impression in his debut with the Detroit Tigers.
Flaherty, a right-hander, will look to build off that performance when he starts the finale of a three-game home series against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit added Flaherty on a one-year, $14 million contract to fortify its rotation. Flaherty, who made a combined 27 starts for St. Louis and Baltimore last season, held the Chicago White Sox to one run and four hits in six innings last Sunday while recording seven strikeouts. He also didn’t walk anyone in an 87-pitch outing in the Tigers’ 3-2 victory.
Flaherty relied on a mix of fastballs and sliders.
“Just continue to mix pitches and continue to execute,” he said. “Guys made really good plays. (Catcher Jake Rogers) called a great game. My job is to just fill up the zone and execute.”
The only run he allowed was a homer by Korey Lee. Flaherty consistently got ahead in the count.
“You want to fill up the zone, so the homer on a 0-0 heater that caught too much of the plate, that’s going to happen,” Flaherty said. “But you are trying to get to strike one. And then when you execute those pitches, it leads to some quick innings.”
The Tigers would love to see Flaherty regain his 2019 form with the Cardinals, when he posted an 11-8 record and 2.75 ERA in 33 starts.
“He was really good,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Flaherty’s effort last Sunday. “He showed a couple different shapes of breaking balls and he had a pretty good fastball. He didn’t back down even though he got ambushed for the homer.”
Flaherty lost his only career start against Oakland, permitting seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Athletics will counter Sunday with another right-hander, Joe Boyle (0-1, 23.63 ERA). He was battered by Boston for seven runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings in his season debut on Monday.
He didn’t get any help from his defense, as the A’s made five errors.
“We couldn’t get out of our way the first three innings,” manager Mark Kotsay said.
Boyle made his major league debut late last season, recording two wins in three starts. His first victory came against the Tigers on Sept. 23, when he allowed one unearned run on five hits and struck out five.
“Joe was outstanding, just pounding the zone,” Kotsay said.
The teams have split the first two games of the series. The Tigers pulled out a 5-4 win on Friday in their home opener. The Athletics bounced back with a 4-0 win on Saturday, as Paul Blackburn and two relievers combined on a five-hit shutout.
“He put us on his back today. It was a big performance from Paul,” Kotsay said.
Oakland’s Brent Rooker has homered in both games, including a two-run shot in the first inning on Saturday. Zack Gelof walked three times and scored three runs in the A’s second win this season.
“Any time you can get the top of the lineup going, and Rook going deep to get us ahead, playing with the lead isn’t something we’ve had many opportunities to do,” Kotsay said. “We took advantage, and those at-bats for Zack are something he needs to do.”
–Field Level Media
