Attacking early, Flaherty flashes elite stuff for win

MIAMI — Attacking proper from the start of video games has been a degree of emphasis for weeks for Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, nevertheless it by no means hurts to have a reminder of the mindset wanted for such an strategy.

Long earlier than he took the mound at mortgageDepot park on Thursday evening, Flaherty thumbed via a journal he saved in 2019 — again when he struck out 231 batters in 196 1/3 innings and intently resembled the sport’s most dominant younger pitcher. In that diary, Flaherty wrote down recommendation given to him by the Cardinals’ backstops on the time, Yadier Molina and Matt Wieters. Boiled down, the message was blunt: Rather than making an attempt to ease into video games, assault from the beginning and set an early tone.

Flaherty adopted these instructions completely towards Miami, scattering 9 hits over 6 2/3 innings and routinely making his finest pitches when there was site visitors on the bases. Not solely did Flaherty’s work permit him to push his scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings, nevertheless it additionally laid the muse for a 3-0 victory over the Marlins that halted the Cardinals’ dropping streak at three video games.

“It starts the second you cross that [first-base] line, from coming out of the dugout and attacking from pitch one,” stated Flaherty, who had seen Cardinals pitchers yield 9 first-inning runs within the first three video games towards the Marlins. “The goal every time is to see how many first-pitch strikes you can get, but really it’s just about setting the tone. … You can’t really coast into the game; you’ve got to make pitches right away.”

All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado gave Flaherty all of the run help he wanted with a sixth-inning solo residence run off Eury Pérez. The Marlins’ 20-year-old flamethrower had knocked Arenado again off the plate with the prior pitch, earlier than he hit the ball the alternative approach for his seventeenth residence run. As spectacular because it was, Arenado saved his plaudits for Flaherty, who resembled the ace St. Louis has wanted all season — particularly with the best way he pitched via site visitors vs. Miami.

“Jack has elite stuff, and for him it’s just about being as consistent as possible,” stated Arenado, who would be the Cardinals’ lone consultant on the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday evening in Seattle. “When Jack is consistent, he’s just as good as anybody out there. He pitched a great game, and we really needed it, right? We lost a tough game yesterday and we were facing [Eury Pérez], who is really good. And we needed Jack to be really good, and he was.”

Flaherty turned the primary Cardinals pitcher to give up 9 hits and ship no less than 6 2/3 scoreless innings since Jason Marquis in 2004, per the Elias Sports Bureau. As dialed in as Flaherty was from the beginning, Miami’s Luis Arraez — MLB’s hottest hitter — nonetheless reached him for a gap single. But the righty responded by stranding two within the opening inning. 

Flaherty left Jean Segura at second within the second inning, and he received out of a bases-loaded jam within the fifth by getting cleanup hitter Jesús Sánchez to fly out. Flaherty retired the primary two hitters within the seventh, however he gave up two singles and walked Bryan De La Cruz to load the bases together with his 111th pitch of the evening. Chris Stratton relieved Flaherty and wanted simply two pitches to get out of the jam and preserve his slate clear.

Combined together with his six scoreless innings on Saturday towards the Yankees, Flaherty has not surrendered a run since June 19 in Washington. Even extra impressively, he has not yielded a house run in 55 1/3 innings, MLB’s third-longest energetic streak, per Elias.

“It was fun to watch Jack compete, because he was into every pitch,” Cardinals supervisor Oliver Marmol stated. “He pounded the zone with the fastball, pitched in and got some sinkers for broken-bat outs, and he stranded the two leadoff doubles. … The overall competition was what we wanted to see.”

Searching for motivation to assist put together for Thursday’s begin, Flaherty thumbed via that four-year-old journal. Flaherty had began journaling round his begins thanks to shut pal and teammate Adam Wainwright. Those notes, a document of his psychological framework, got here in helpful for the collection finale. Flaherty was prepared from the beginning, and he didn’t let site visitors on the basepaths deter his focus.

“I hadn’t done a very good job this season in the first [inning], and that’s one of the things that you take pride in,” Flaherty stated. “Pretty much what [the journal said] — there’s no secret to it; just literally be on the attack instead of saying, ‘OK, let’s feel it out and see what we’ve got today.’ No, no, it’s about being ready to go from pitch No. 1.”