DETROIT — The running commentary Jack Flaherty expected from the Cardinals dugout and his former teammates began, as expected and on cue, as he warmed up for the top of the first inning Tuesday ahead of his first start against his former team as an opponent.
He knew Miles Mikolas, a chatterbox from the dugout, would share some thoughts, and after the game, he mentioned hearing the voices of a few of the Cardinals trainers.
“It was hard kind of not to laugh out there a little bit,†Flaherty said. “It might have calmed things down out there for me. I was able to lock in from there.â€
That is putting it mildly.
Flaherty struck out the first seven Cardinals he faced to set a new Detroit Tigers franchise record and tie the American League record for consecutive strikeouts to begin a game. On his way to a career-best 14 strikeouts, Flaherty dominated his former teammates and his first club. By the beginning of the fifth inning, he had 10 strikeouts and by the end of it, he had a dozen. He touched 98 mph with his fastball and dropped a knuckle-curve unapologetically past frozen batters, and both of those made his best pitch, his slider, sharper.
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“Flaherty, man, exceptional job,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He was on, and it was nasty. He had his stuff. Velo(city) was ticking up. It was a good dogfight back and forth.â€
Flaherty put himself a few innings away from his first win with his new team, but Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson nearly matched zero for zero in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Only a solo homer separated the two teams going into the ninth inning, when the Cardinals rallied for a 2-1 victory. The decisive runs came against former Cardinals starter Shelby Miller and left former Cardinals starter Flaherty with a no decision despite one of the more dominant appearances of his career. Within the artful game, there were shades of 2019.
Flaherty needed only seven pitches to strike out the first two batters of the game, and on those seven, he got five swings and misses. Through two innings, he had six strikeouts on 26 pitches, including 10 swings and misses. He would finish 6 2/3 scoreless innings with 10 swings and misses on his fastball alone and 24 total.
His fastball was up almost 2 mph over its season average.
“I think everything was a matter, a function of being in sync,†Flaherty told Detroit reporters after the game. “I was able to throw the curveball where I wanted to. Probably got a little tired toward the end (but) pretty much was able to put the fastball where I wanted to. Slider. Curveball. It was one of those days where everything was in sync and working. You want to capitalize on those days.â€
Flaherty became the fifth AL pitcher to start a game with seven consecutive strikeouts. Joe Cowley of the Chicago White Sox established the record against Texas in May 1986. Since, Carlos Rodon matched it for the Sox in September 2016, Blake Snell had seven straight to start vs. Seattle for Tampa Bay in June 2018, and in September 2022, Mariners ace Luis Castillo struck out seven consecutive to open a game. Flaherty came one strikeout shy of the major league record set by Jim Deshaies with Houston in 1986, when the Astros were still in the National League, and matched most recently in 2014 by Jacob deGrom with the Mets.
Flaherty is the first AL pitcher ever to strike out seven consecutive NL opponents to begin a game. The Cardinals had not struck out seven consecutive times to start a game since at least 1961, according to Elias research.
Flaherty’s control of the game did not stop there.
A former first-round pick of the Cardinals who signed as a free agent with the Tigers, Flaherty got strike 1 on 18 of the first 21 batters he faced. The Cardinals laced two singles off him to keep the zeroes from piling up elsewhere in the box score, but the strikeout totals kept climbing. At the start of the fifth inning, Flaherty had the 12th 10-strikeout game of his career. The first 10 of those came as a Cardinal. When he struck out Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh inning, he had surpassed his previous career high by one.
Flaherty was the first Tigers pitcher with at least 14 strikeouts in a game since ºüÀêÊÓƵ-area native and Mizzou great Max Scherzer had 14 strikeouts in a 2014 start.
In the end, it was Flaherty’s fifth no decision in six starts for Detroit.
“Line is great, but you want to win at the end of the day,†Flaherty said. “So if it means I had to get a couple of more outs and go a little bit deeper, that’s what it’s about.â€
Nootbaar stays busy in center
On the same day Dylan Carlson was scheduled to begin his rehab assignment with Class AAA Memphis and begin his stride back to the majors, Lars Nootbaar made his first start of the season in center field. The Cardinals intend to sprinkle Nootbaar into the center field mix, especially when starting a ground-ball-getting pitcher. The doubleheader offered an opportunity to split the center field starts between Nootbaar and Michael Siani, and with Gibson on the mound for Game 1, Nootbaar manned center.
Fittingly, the first ball put in play against Gibson went to him.
And so did the sixth.
And the eighth.
And the ninth.
For a ground-ball game, Nootbaar stayed busy with a season-high five putouts in center. In the third inning, as Gibson completed a perfect run through the Tigers lineup to start he game, Nootbaar caught two fly balls. He had four of the Cardinals’ first nine outs.
Leahy promoted for doubleheader
Reliever Kyle Leahy joined the Cardinals at Comerica Park as the 27th man for the doubleheader against Detroit, though due to a strategic choice by the Tigers, the right-hander was only eligible for Game 2 of the day. By rule, teams are permitted to add an extra player to their active roster for doubleheaders with enough warning, but there’s a twist to the rule that allows the home team to determine if that player is eligible for both games or only one.
Because the Tigers intended to start their 27th player — pitcher Matt Manning — they made the choice to have the extra player eligible for only Game 2 and not give the Cardinals the reliever advantage for both games.
Leahy, 26, was solid in early spring, and through his first eight games with Class AAA Memphis, he has 14 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings to offset a 5.84 ERA. The right-hander made three appearances in the majors last season.
To make room on the 40-player roster for Leahy, the Cardinals shifted lefty Drew Rom to the 60-day injured list. Rom was set to meet with a doctor Tuesday in Texas to determine why his return from biceps bursitis has stalled and there is persisting discomfort and weakness in his left arm. Rom has been on the injured list since the beginning of the season and isn’t expected to return within the next 30 days now mandated by a move to the 60-day IL.
