Flaherty fans nine in Redbirds' shutout

Jack Flaherty had hit a rough patch in his first stint at Triple-A, but he rebounded nicely on Friday night.
The Cardinals' sixth-ranked prospect gave up four hits and struck out nine without issuing a walk over 6 1/3 innings as Memphis blanked Las Vegas, 6-0, at AutoZone Park.

Flaherty (2-1) retired the first 11 batters he faced before Mets No. 2 prospectDominic Smith connected for a two-out single in the fourth inning. 
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"I was really just trying to get ahead of guys and trying to be efficient," Flaherty said. "I hadn't really done that the last few times out. As I went through the night, I wanted to try and be more efficient and get guys out early. We were able to execute early and get some quick outs."
The 21-year-old right-hander worked around singles by Xorge Carrillo in the fifth and Mets No. 26 prospect Phillip Evans in the sixth to keep the 51s off the board. He surrendered a leadoff single to Travis Taijeron in the seventh but responded by striking out Josh Rodriguez after a 10-pitch battle.

"I felt like I was able to move my fastball in and out," the California native said. "I didn't have too much feel for much else early on. As the game went on, I kind of got a better feel for other pitches."
Flaherty departed after 94 pitches -- 62 strikes -- and left with one out and one on in the seventh.
"I kind of had a feeling and then the last guy put together a really great at-bat, a really long at-bat," he said. "[Manager Stubby Clapp] thought it was the right time to take me out of the game."
The start was his longest since he went 7 2/3 frames on May 22 for Double-A Springfield. He fell three strikeouts shy of the season high he establised on May 5.

Flaherty had struggled of late, surrendering seven runs on 17 hits over 11 2/3 frames in his three starts since June 25. Friday's outing lowered his ERA to 3.24 -- which would rank second in the Pacific Coast League if he had enough innings to qualify -- in eight starts since coming up from the Texas League on June 1. The 2014 first-round pick has fanned 46 while walking 12 during that span.
"I've really just been trying to get ahead of guys," Flaherty said. "The defense played really well tonight. When the ball was put in play, guys were able to make plays. I was working in my bullpens to throw strikes and make sure I got ahead of guys and trusted my defense."
MLB.com's No. 95 overall prospect, Flaherty is 9-3 with a 2.14 ERA and 108 strikeouts over 105 innings across both levels this season.
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Seventh-ranked Cardinals prospect Harrison Bader collected three hits and scored a run for Memphis, while Nick Martini went 3-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.
Las Vegas starter Wilfredo Boscan (4-9) surrendered four runs -- two earned -- on eight hits while walking one and fanning three over five innings.
Smith doubled and singled for the 51s to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.