Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty likes 'shapes' of pitches in 7-3 loss to Pittsburgh Pirates

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3, on Saturday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Detroit is 4-4-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Jack Flaherty completed his second start of spring training, throwing 21 pitches.

Flaherty, who threw 13 of those pitches for strikes, maintained his 95 mph four-seam fastball velocity across two innings. More importantly, he executed his fastball, which generated two of his four whiffs and all three of his called strikes.

"I haven't really tried to pay attention to the velocity," Flaherty said. "I'm really going off reactions (from hitters), and they came out swinging, so I was able to throw a couple by guys. The shapes are playing. It's just about execution."

Manager A.J. Hinch was asked about Flaherty's 21-pitch workload.

"The ups (innings) are more important than the volume," Hinch said. "The volume will be the middle part of spring, where we will build both, but we are methodically going through the ups, which has been something we've worked together with him to focus on."

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The Tigers had a 2-1 lead before the Pirates scored five runs in the fifth inning, making it 6-2. Three runs were charged to right-handed reliever Jason Foley; two runs were charged to left-handed reliever Andrew Magno.

Andy Ibáñez cut the Tigers' deficit to 6-3 with a solo home run in the fifth inning, driving right-handed reliever Brent Honeywell's 93.9 mph fastball below the strike zone over the wall in left-center field.

It was Ibáñez's second homer in spring training.

The Tigers finished with two hits, 11 walks and 10 strikeouts.

Starting off

The only damage against Flaherty was a solo home run from Pirates catcher Henry Davis, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft. Davis, who has two homers this spring, crushed the ball 419 feet to left field with a 108.7 mph exit velocity.

It was on a middle-down slider.

"The first one was a really, really good one, and he chased it," Flaherty said of his two sliders to Davis. "The next one has got to be the same, and it just wasn't as good. Make a mistake, he's a good hitter, and he put a good swing on it."

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Flaherty walked Canaan Smith-Njigba on five pitches with one out in the second inning, but he responded by getting Nick Gonzales to ground into an inning-ending double play.

He threw 11 fastballs, four sliders, two sinkers, two curveballs and two changeups. His fastball velocity averaged 95.2 mph, up from his 93.1 mph average last season.

"I was able to put it on the outside corner pretty repeatedly to lefties," Flaherty said of his fastball. "Being able to execute that usually is a pretty good recipe for things, but you just build off things and go off what the hitters will tell you."

At the plate

The Tigers drew five walks in a row with two outs in the fourth inning.

Right-handed reliever Colin Holderman, who struck out Ibáñez and Bligh Madris to begin the inning, walked Justice Bigbie on five pitches, Carson Kelly on four pitches and Parker Meadows on five pitches. The Pirates replaced Holderman with left-handed reliever Brady Feigl, but a new pitcher didn't change the results. Feigl walked Zach McKinstry on six pitches and Riley Greene on six pitches.

The Tigers took a 2-1 lead with the walks from McKinstry and Greene, both with the bases loaded. Spencer Torkelson, though, struck out swinging on a 94.6 mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone to strand the bases loaded.

In the sixth inning, Eliezer Alfonzo grounded into an inning-ending double play after back-to-back walks from Wenceel Pérez and Gage Workman. Pérez, by the way, made a beautiful running catch in the right-center gap for the first out in the seventh inning.

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McKinstry finished with three walks in three plate appearances.

He also stole second base in the third inning.

"We want him to run as the spring goes," Hinch said. "We're working a ton on some attention to detail on cues and when to go, specifically for a guy like Zach who can steal bases."

On the mound

After Flaherty, left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin retired all three batters he faced in the third inning. He struck out Jake Lamb (swinging strike, 82.9 mph slider) and Alika Williams (swinging strike, 82.7 mph slider) for the first two outs.

Right-handed reliever Shelby Miller had the same success in the fourth inning: three up, three down. He struck out Jack Suwinski swinging with an up-and-in 94.5 mph fastball.

"These guys were swinging a lot," Hinch said, "and our guys didn't back down from the strike zone. ... Both of them executed some secondary pitches that are going to be important. For Chafin, it was the slider. For Shelby, it was a couple of well-placed splitters."

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The Tigers' relievers imploded in the fifth inning, surrendering five runs, but settled down across the final four innings. Right-hander Beau Brieske covered the sixth and seventh innings without allowing a run, while right-hander Miguel Díaz did the same in the eighth inning.

Left-hander Sean Guenther gave up a 421-foot solo home run to Matt Gorski in the ninth inning.

Three stars

1. McKinstry, 2. Chafin, 3. Flaherty.

Next up

Sunday (1:05 p.m.) vs. New York Yankees in Lakeland.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jack Flaherty sharp in Detroit Tigers' 7-3 ehibition loss to Pirates