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Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty 'in a good spot' after recovering from back injury
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- Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty 'in a good spot' after recovering from back injury
HOUSTON — Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty didn't look like he missed a beat.
Flaherty pitched on the 11th day after his last start, rather than the usual fifth day, because he was healing from lower back tightness, receiving an injection to aid his recovery . The 28-year-old suffered the back injury June 4 against the Texas Rangers , removed after 60 pitches.
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He looked sharp in his return Saturday against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, though, throwing five scoreless innings on three hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
"It feels good," Flaherty said after Saturday's 13-5 win , when asked about the status of his lower back. "I'm in a good spot. I'll just continue to evaluate it day by day and see how I keep going."
Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Saturday, June 15, 2024.
Flaherty threw 73 pitches.
His four-seam fastball averaged 92.2 mph, down 1.5 mph from his season average of 93.7 mph, but he reached back to throw a 95.3 mph fastball with his final pitch.
It was his speediest fastball of the game.
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"It just meant that I still had some in the tank as the game went along," Flaherty said. "Sometimes, you get up 10-0, and it was just fill up the zone, let them put it in play and get back to the dugout."
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After 13 starts, Flaherty — who signed a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason — has a 3.01 ERA with 11 walks (3.7% walk rate) and 100 strikeouts (33.3% strikeout rate) across 77⅔ innings. He has thrown 16⅔ scoreless innings in a row.
Manager A.J. Hinch was impressed by Flaherty's fastball against the Astros. Flaherty utilized his fastball to generate five of his six strikeouts. Four of those five came on called strikes.
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"I'm not talking about velo," Hinch said. "Velo is good. For him, it's the finish on his pitches, the characteristic of it, the funny swings and misses, the takes with two strikes tell me a lot about the fastball more than the velo does."
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Flaherty was challenged to stay loose between innings.
The Tigers spent a lot of time on offense in the first three innings, scoring 10 runs. Flaherty won't ever turn down run support, but all the time spent on the bench forced him to focus a little bit extra on executing pitches once he got back on the mound.
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He never got into a rhythm.
"It was fun to watch," Flaherty said. "You kind of become a spectator a little bit, and you got to remind yourself to go out and execute. It was about getting loose in between. At that point, it's just fill up the zone and try to get back in the dugout as quickly as possible to let these guys keep swinging."
Flaherty ran into trouble in the third and fifth innings. He had a runner on third with one out in the third, then runners on second and third with no outs in the fifth. In both situations, Flaherty escaped without allowing any runs.
In the third, Jose Altuve lined out and Alex Bregman struck out swinging. In the fifth, Jake Meyers struck out, Victor Caratini flied out and Altuve struck out.
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Altuve, who has 2,132 hits in his 14-year MLB career, torched left-hander Tarik Skubal in Friday's series opener , but he finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Flaherty on Saturday.
"That's one of the best hitters in the league," Flaherty said. "You just make pitches. He hit that ball hard in the third. It just happened to be right at somebody. And then we were able to execute in the fifth with runners on second and third. You just keep making pitches."
Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty (9) watches a replay against Washington Nationals during the seventh inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
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It was a successful return from a brief absence.
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The Tigers are expected to trade Flaherty at the July 30 trade deadline, but he needs to stay healthy — at least for another six weeks — for that to happen.
"I'm looking forward to the next one," Flaherty said.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty 'in a good spot' after back injury
