DETROIT — One of the new pitchers the Cardinals added this past offseason and one of the several they traded this past fall put on an exhibition for the art of pitching in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday at Comerica Park.
Kyle Gibson was all efficiency and movement.
Jack Flaherty went for the bold, broad brushstrokes.
When the game found another pitcher with Cardinals ties, that’s when the gallery really got involved. Down by the only run of the game’s first eight innings, the Cardinals rallied in the top of the ninth against Shelby Miller. The Cardinals’ former first-round pick has reinvented himself as a reliever and came in to close out what would have been a crisp, pristine 1-0 victory and the first win of Flaherty’s career with the Tigers. The Cardinals, quietly observing the display of pitching all afternoon and on their way to another shutout, put the final artful touch on the game.
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They defied the critics.
A rally keyed by singles from Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt turned on Alec Burleson’s game-tying single. Off the bench and into the game at catcher, rookie Pedro Pages then followed with his first big-league RBI. Pages drove a ball to deep center field for a sacrifice fly that scored Goldschmidt and send the Cardinals, scoreless for eight innings, to a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader. The Cardinals got only the two runs in the top of the ninth against Miller (3-3) and needed only the two.
Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.
The Cardinals are within a win of reaching .500 by the end of April, and they’ll have that chance in Game 2 of the doubleheader. It’s scheduled to start less than an hour after Helsley got the final out of the first game.
Flaherty tied an American League record and set a Detroit Tigers franchise record by striking out the first seven Cardinals he faced in his first start against his former team. Kyle Gibson echoed the results by retiring the first nine batters he faced and pitching deeper into the game than his counterpart. Flaherty struck out a career-high 14. Gibson got two pivotal strikeouts in the seventh to finish with nine in his seven superb innings.
All that separated the exceptional pitching was a run.
The Cardinals threatened with a couple of baserunners in the top of the eighth inning against the Tigers’ bullpen. But the inning fizzled with two fly balls and a soft grounder to hold the Cardinals scoreless.
They were shut out for the third time this season.
Game 2 of the doubleheader is set to begin less than an hour after the end of the first game. It is a traditional, one-ticket doubleheader at Comerica.
Flaherty had his 12th career 10K game by the beginning of the fifth inning, and he had a dozen strikeouts by the end of that. Through 6 2/3 innings, the right-hander and former Cardinals’ first-round pick allowed two hits and one walk. He countered that with the career-best 14 strikeouts. This season, Flaherty has 50 strikeouts in 42 innings, and he’s averaging 10 strikeouts for every one walk issued. He’s among the top three in the American League for strikeout rates.
Gibson starts perfect, Flaherty even better
Through three innings, Cardinals starter Gibson retired all nine Tigers he faced. He did so with unyielding efficiency. His first six outs came on only 13 pitches, and he had gotten deep into the third inning before throwing his 20th pitch of the start.
If not perfect, Gibson was on the brink of it through three innings.
And Flaherty was even better.
The former Cardinal struck out the first seven batters he faced to tie an American League record and set a new Detroit franchise record. He’s the fifth pitcher in American League history to begin a game with seven consecutive strikeouts. He got the first six on 26 pitches, and of those pitches 10 got swings and misses from some of his former teammates. By the end of the fifth inning, Flaherty had 12 strikeouts on his way to the new career high.
The Tigers’ right-hander did not match Gibson’s flawless breeze through the first nine batters. Masyn Winn, the Cardinals’ No. 8 hitter, grounded out to end Flaherty’s streak of strikeouts, and Ivan Herrera, the No. 9 hitter, singled to left field with two outs in the second to put the first scratch on the scoreboard. The strikeouts resumed in the fourth inning.
By then the Tigers had taken the lead they spent most of the game protecting. Leadoff hitter Riley Greene greeted Gibson’s second time through the order with his homer – the sixth of his season. Greene's solo homer was the difference in Game 1 until the ninth inning.
Gibson escapes jam, keeps Cardinals alive
Flaherty had deeded the mound to the bullpen by the time Gibson gamely maneuvered his way out of a messy inning without yielding a second run or worse.
The Tigers relieved Flaherty to get the final out of the top of the seventh inning. Two batters into the bottom of the inning, Detroit threatened to add onto their 1-0 lead. The first two batters of the inning reached base against Gibson, the veteran right-hander had invited trouble by walking the leadoff batter. The back half of the Tigers’ lineup had a chance to put the game away, to expand the lead beyond any Flaherty had to work with.
His sweeper got Gibson out of the bind.
Gibson was able to get a grounder for a forceout – one confirmed by replay – to start slipping free from the inning. Detroit had runners at the corners and No. 7 hitter Zach McKinstry at the plate. The Tigers’ shortstop saw eight pitches. Gibson got ahead 1-2 with two sweepers to McKinstry before the infielder ignored two sinkers and was able to regain an edge in the count. One ball away from a walk and the bases loaded, Gibson spun one more sweeper – right by McKinstry’s bat. The eight pitch was the escape-hatch strikeout.
But the trouble wasn’t entirely quelled.
Former Cardinals’ second-rounder Carson Kelly, now the Tigers’ catcher, worked a walk to load the bases and bring pinch-hitter Mark Canha into the game. Not in the starting lineup for Game 1 of the doubleheader, Canha brought a .511 slugging percentage and a .913 OPS into that pinch-hit moment against Gibson. The former Brewer saw five pitches from Gibson: three cutters, two sweepers. The second sweeper veered past his bat at 80.5 mph and ended the inning with three teammates stranded.