Cardinals’ Jack Flaherty Struggles Against Slumping Pirates During His 2022 Debut
Following months of anticipation, St. Louis Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty finally made his first start of the 2022 season on Wednesday, although it certainly didn’t go smoothly.
Flaherty, who had been sidelined all year with a shoulder injury, returned to the mound during the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But the 26-year-old appeared to be off his game as he struggled to command his pitches effectively.
Unfortunately, this served as a common theme for the 6’4” right-hander throughout the night, resulting in multiple extended innings across his three innings of work. His night didn’t begin on a positive note, either.
After striking out infielder Tucupita Marcano to open the game, the Cardinals’ hurler hung an 83.5-m.p.h. slider to outfielder Bryan Reynolds, who crushed it into centre field for a triple. That ultimately led to a 31-pitch first inning, which saw the Pirates take an early 2-0 edge.
The following frame didn’t prove any better for Flaherty, as he walked the first batter before committing a throwing error on a sac bunt attempt, allowing another run to score. Making matters worse, he surrendered one additional run and hit a batter until the bleeding stopped via an inning-ending strikeout.
But as terrible as things were through the first two innings, Flaherty seemed to settle in during the third, inducing a trio of groundouts on just 10 pitches. By then, however, his pitch count had already reached 60, forcing manager Oliver Marmol to call upon his bullpen.
In the end, the former first-round pick from 2014 allowed four runs – two earned – on three hits and two walks through three innings. He also posted three strikeouts and seven swings and misses.
After the game, Flaherty spoke about his outing, saying his command was “terrible” and needed to be much “sharper” than it was. Though, he did admit his nerves played an impact during the game after missing several months due to injury.
Prior to this start, Flaherty made two separate rehab appearances – one at double-A Springfield and the other at triple-A Memphis. In his second outing, the righty threw 59 pitches across four innings, allowing one run on a solo home run while striking out six batters.
The Cardinals had been waiting patiently for Flaherty’s return, and now that he’s ready, the team hopes to keep him healthy this time around. They definitely want to avoid what took place last season, as a similar shoulder injury limited him to just 78.1 innings.
With the Burbank, California native healthy, St. Louis’ starting rotation is nearly at full strength. Of course, except for Steven Matz, who currently resides on the 15-day IL with a shoulder injury.
Until Matz returns, rookie Matthew Liberatore will continue starting alongside a talented group that includes Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas and Flaherty.
If Flaherty stays healthy, the Cardinals are hoping he can return to the same front-line starter that enjoyed a breakout performance in 2019, where he posted a 2.75 ERA and a 4.7 fWAR rating over 196.1 innings in 33 starts.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Charles Edward Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.