The record doesn’t reflect it, but Jack Flaherty feels he’s in a good place. The Detroit Tigers have lost eight of the 10 games he’s started, but the veteran right-hander believes better days are ahead.
Flaherty will start the middle game of a three-game series against visiting San Francisco on Tuesday night.
“I feel like I’ve been going in the right direction the entire year,” Flaherty told the Detroit News. “Just, more mentally than anything, I have kind of talked myself into saying I wasn’t doing great. But I’ve been throwing the ball well. I’ve had a couple of rough innings, but I still feel like I’m throwing the ball well. But there’s still another level to get to.”
His last two outings are more indicative of why the Tigers re-signed Flaherty as a free agent after dealing him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two prospects at the trade deadline.
Flaherty held Toronto to two runs in 5 2/3 innings while striking out six on May 16. In his last outing on Thursday, Flaherty (2-6, 4.39 ERA) gave up three runs on just three hits in 6 2/3 innings — his longest start this season.
“We have a ton of belief in Jack,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Not just because of all the work he’s done, but because of what he brings to the table every day. What we saw in his fastball the last outing was encouraging. What we know he’s going to bring with the spin is really encouraging.
“When it comes to his attack plan, we have a ton of belief because he has a lot of options. He can go to a lot of different things and when he puts it all together, as he has so often in his career, he can put together some special games.”
Flaherty is 1-2 with a 5.26 ERA in five career starts against the Giants.
San Francisco will have its ace, Logan Webb, on the mound. Webb (5-4, 2.67 ERA) had a string of three consecutive quality starts broken in his last outing, giving up six runs (three earned) and 10 hits in four innings against Kansas City on Wednesday.
“I thought they had a good approach. Going into it, I knew it would be a grindy game, that’s a team that I don’t necessarily match up well with,” Webb said. “They don’t chase a ton and make a lot of contact. … Just kind of a bad job by me.”
Prior to Wednesday, Webb had given up two or fewer runs in seven of his 10 starts.
“Just kind of an off day for him,” manager Bob Melvin said.
Webb is 1-1 with a 0.77 ERA and 14 strikeouts in two career starts against the Tigers. The win came last year when he limited Detroit to one run and four hits while striking out eight in seven innings.
The Tigers won the series opener 3-1 on Monday afternoon with Riley Greene supplying the big hit: a two-run single in the fifth to stake a two-run lead for Detroit, which used five relievers to secure the victory.
–Field Level Media
