Cards' Flaherty posts zeros in longest start

Jack Flaherty had cruised for Double-A Springfield before allowing a season-high three earned runs on nine hits against Tulsa last Wednesday in his first loss of the season. That caused his ERA to rise to 1.45, and the right-hander spent the next four days figuring out what he could do to bring back the zeros he'd posted in three of his first eight starts.
On Monday, he executed.

The Cardinals' No. 8 prospect went 7 2/3 innings, scattering three hits with three strikeouts and four walks in a 4-0 win over Northwest Arkansas at Hammons Field. Flaherty needed a career-high 106 pitches (68 strikes) to get through the outing, which matched the longest of his career on April 17 against Midland. The Burbank, California, native became the first Minor Leaguer this season to reach seven wins and reduced his ERA to 1.26.
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"Today was a big adjustment day," Flaherty said. "I really wanted to bounce back, and the way I wanted to do that was to get some quick early outs. Then, there was a lot of weak contact, I think too, and that helped me get through the game. The defense was good in helping me out, and my catcher [Gabriel Lino] called a great game too. But really, I felt like I just executed a lot better today than last time out."
The biggest threat by the Naturals came in the third. Zane Evans opened with an infield single to third base before being erased on a force out that left Logan Moon at first. Moon stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. A walk to Ruben Sosa put runners on the corners when Alfredo Escalera tried to bunt home Moon, only for him to be thrown out at the plate by Flaherty, who ended the inning by striking out Samir Dueñez. 
The 21-year-old said he was confident he could exit the third unscathed.
"I was just able to make my pitches in those spots," he said. "Even the little things, like getting in position to get to the bunt, those matter. When I'm in those situations, I'm trying my best to slow things down and focus on what I'm doing."

As the outing wore on, it became clearer that the more the Naturals saw Flaherty, the more difficult he was to hit, which is not typically the norm. He retired nine batters in a row from the fifth into the eighth until Sosa's single to center ended the string and Flaherty's day. More than simply rebounding from the previous outing, the game tested whether the Springfield starter could adjust on the fly.
"Early on, my fastball was all over the place, so I was leaning on my off-speed for strikes," he said. "I was getting a little bit more comfortable as things went on, but yeah, a lot of was feeling things out over the first couple innings. After the fifth is when I started getting comfortable with the way I was moving and could really grasp what I needed to do change how my fastball was working."
The gem was different from Flaherty's typically dominant starts this season. He set a season high for walks despite averaging only 1.3 BB/9 through his first eight outings. However, all four walks came before he claimed to have settled down in the fifth. Flaherty's three strikeouts were a season low and a significant departure from his 9.4 K/9 average. 

Though he wasn't blowing the ball past the Naturals, Flaherty still kept them off the board. The 2014 first-rounder recorded 10 outs on the ground, compared to four flyouts, and his ability to force Northwest Arkansas out of the air did Flaherty a lot of favors.
"I think they were off-balance for the most part," he said. "I tried my best keep the ball down in the zone, but I elevated when I needed to. Like I said, the defense played really well too, and that was big. But I wouldn't call myself a ground-ball pitcher. Some games, I'm going to get them through the air too. I just want to try to go out and pound the zone. I didn't do that last time, and I did that today, so that's where my head's at. But obviously, it's always good to get a lot of ground balls too.
"I'll just continue working on the fastball command and throwing more changeups," he said of his next start. "I want to repeat the same feeling I had today with all of my pitches. After something like this, that's all I want to do. Repeat this same feeling over and over."
Jose Adolis Garcia went 3-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk, and Jacob Wilson also hit a solo homer for the Cardinals.
Starter Emilio Ogando (2-2) surrendered two earned runs on seven hits with four walks and a strikeout in five innings for Northwest Arkansas.