Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty strikes out eight in final spring start in 3-2 win over Rays

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers took down the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2, on Sunday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers are 20-9-3 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Jack Flaherty struck out the first four batters he faced in his final spring training start: José Caballero (foul tip, 86 mph slider), Austin Shenton (swinging strike, 79 mph curveball), Randy Arozarena (called strike, 94 mph fastball) and former Tiger Isaac Paredes (called strike, 95 mph fastball).

Flaherty, who signed a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason, struck out eight batters — with zero walks — across 4⅔ innings, throwing 63 of 87 pitches for strikes. The 28-year-old finished the spring with a 2.95 ERA and 26 strikeouts across 18⅓ innings in six games.

"Just the way my body is moving and the way that I'm able to repeat everything," Flaherty said. "Last year, I would have some starts or an inning or a hitter that would be good, and then I wouldn't be able to repeat it. The next time out, it was like, where is my body in space? This spring, I feel like I've been able to repeat things over and over and over again a lot better."

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For his last four strikeouts, Flaherty struck out Richie Palacios (swinging strike, 80 mph curveball) in the second inning, Caballero (swinging strike, 85 mph slider) and Arozarena (called strike, 86 mph slider) in the third inning and René Pinto (called strike, 95 mph fastball) in the fifth inning.

His fastball averaged 93.8 mph — up from last year's 93.1 mph average — and maxed out at 96.1 mph.

"I feel really good," Flaherty said. "Spring gets to be a little bit of a grind towards the end of it, so it's nice to get out of here and get into the season."

Starting off

Flaherty struck out the side in the first inning, but he didn't have the same success in the second inning.

It wasn't entirely his fault.

After striking out Paredes, Harold Ramírez reached safely on a throwing error by shortstop Javier Báez. Amed Rosario fell behind 0-2 in the count but tagged a third-pitch slider at the bottom of the strike zone for a double to left field.

"He had difficulty with two strikes, but other than that, I think his stuff looks great," manager A.J. Hinch said. "We wanted to get him closer to 90 (pitches) for the regular season, which we did. He continued to flash really, really good stuff. It was an important start to finish strong for him."

The error and the double put two runners in scoring position.

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The Rays cashed in when Jose Siri hammered Flaherty's full-count fastball for a single to left field. Both Ramírez and Rosario scored on the hard-hit single — putting the Rays ahead, 2-0 — but only one run was charged to Flaherty's tab as an earned run.

Catcher Carson Kelly threw out Siri trying to steal second base for the second out, then Palacios struck out swinging for the third out, completing the second inning.

Flaherty gave up five hits.

He threw 43 fastballs, 25 sliders, 15 curveballs and four changeups. He generated 13 whiffs (on 46 swings) with six fastballs, five sliders and two curveballs. He also had 17 called strikes.

"There's a lot of rep work done over the offseason," Flaherty said, "and even day to day in just being able to feel my body and where things are at. It's just constant with everything, mental and physical, knowing what the cue actually is to get on time and get my body moving the right way."

At the plate

The Tigers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning, facing right-hander Zack Littell.

Kerry Carpenter delivered a leadoff single, then Javier Báez stole the show with a double — his fourth hit in the past six games — to left field. The free-swinger didn't hit the ball hard, but he made contact on a splitter below the strike zone and in the dirt.

Gio Urshela drove in both runners to tie the game, 2-2.

It was an encouraging swing from Urshela, who didn't miss a middle-middle 94 mph fastball in a two-strike count. He drove the ball with a 100.4 mph exit velocity for a two-run ground-rule double to right-center field.

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The Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning after Matt Vierling's walk and Andy Ibáñez's single. Vierling advanced from first base to third base on Ibáñez's single, and he scored from third base when Ryan Vilade grounded into a double play.

On the mound

The Tigers pitched four relievers.

Right-hander Andrew Chafin recorded the final out in the fifth inning with one pitch. After that, right-hander Alex Lange tossed a scoreless sixth inning with one strikeout. Right-hander Will Vest threw a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout, working around a one-out single.

Right-hander Beau Brieske, who is competing with three other relievers for two openings in the bullpen, handled the eighth and ninth innings. He protected the one-run lead by keeping the Rays from scoring.

"He's working on his secondary pitches and learning how to utilize that so he's not a fastball-only type of guy," Hinch said. "I know he's very much in the mix to potentially break with our team because of the stuff that he has and the velocity uptick, and he's bouncing back well. He's made a really strong case to make our team."

Brieske notched both of his strikeouts in the ninth inning, sending down Nick Schnell (swinging strike, 97 mph fastball) and Raudelis Martinez (swinging strike, 91 mph changeup).

He stranded the game-tying run at second base in the ninth.

"I'm trying not to think about it, to be honest," Brieske said. "I'm just going out there and trying to pitch. I don't want to get caught up in anything that I have absolutely no control over. The only thing I have control over is the way I prepare and the way I go out there and pitch."

Three stars

1. Flaherty, 2. Urshela, 3. Brieske.

Next up

Tuesday (12:35 p.m.) vs. Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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