Flaherty whiffs 12 for Springfield

Even though he's climbed a level every year since being drafted in 2014, Jack Flaherty has never been promoted in the middle of a season. With the way he's pitching to start his Double-A career, that may change.
The Cardinals' No. 8 prospect tied his career high with 12 strikeouts on Friday, allowing a run on two hits and a walk over seven innings, as Springfield held on for a 4-3 win over Northwest Arkansas at Hammons Field.

Flaherty leads all Minor Leaguers with 39 1/3 innings pitched and his 0.69 ERA ranks fifth among qualified pitchers. He's also tied for eighth in the Minors with a Texas League-leading 40 strikeouts. 
Box score
"I try not to think about that stuff," Flaherty said. "It's been a good start to the season, but there's still a very long way to go, so I need to keep it going and continue to build off of every start. My expectations of myself are higher than anyone else's, so I know it's a work-in-progress and that there's still a lot of work left to do so that I can improve." 
Flaherty (5-0) struck out the side in a 1-2-3 first inning before leaving a fastball up in the zone against Frank Schwindel, who hammered it to left for a leadoff homer in the second.
"I made a mistake and he hit it," the 21-year-old said. "I didn't put the pitch where I wanted to -- it happens. I had to shake it off and have a short memory. He took advantage of my mistake and that's his job. So I just got back to work."
The California native quickly regained his composure and retired the next 14 batters, striking out eight. 

"For me, I want to throw three pitches or less to every hitter," Flaherty said. "I want to attack and fill up the zone so my defense get to work, and they've done a really good job for me this year. When you fill up the zone, you're going to have days where you strike everyone out and you'll have days where they put a lot of balls in play.
"I was able to execute the way I wanted to and throw what I wanted to in certain counts. They put together some good at-bats, but I was able to execute what [Springfield catcher] Gabriel Lino called and our game plan worked out well."
A two-out walk to Donald Dewees Jr. in the sixth put an end to Flaherty's run, but the right-hander quickly erased the mistake by getting Alfredo Escalera to ground out to short. Flaherty, who was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week for April 17-23, worked around a two-out single by Mauricio Ramos to complete the seventh.
"As the game moves on, I've been able to fall into a rhythm and keep a good pace," the 2014 first-round pick said. "I try to keep the same mentality from pitch one to my last pitch of the game. The key for me is to keep that same mental focus and stay locked in for the entire game."

Tyler Bray took over for Flaherty in the eighth and was charged with two runs on two hits in one inning. Kevin Herget worked around two hits and a walk in the ninth to notch his third save.
Zach Lovvorn (2-2) allowed four runs and scattered eight hits and two walks while striking out nine over seven innings for the Naturals.