Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty stays sharp in 0-0 tie with Philadelphia Phillies

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers tied the Philadelphia Phillies, 0-0, on Tuesday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers are 15-8-3 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Jack Flaherty threw five scoreless innings with zero walks and seven strikeouts, tossing 50 of 69 pitches for strikes. His fastball and slider, in particular, were sharp again in his fifth start in spring training.

Flaherty hit 97.2 mph with his final pitch, striking out Cal Stevenson swinging with a fastball at the top of the strike zone.

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Although Flaherty dominated, catcher Jake Rogers stole the show in the first inning because of his elite defense. His throwing arm was responsible for two of the three outs, and his catching arm — notably, his framing on a down-and-away slider — helped Flaherty work ahead in the count en route to a strikeout.

For the first out, Rogers chased and fielded a dribbler down the third-base line. He spun as he picked up the ball and fired a laser to first baseman Spencer Torkelson. For the third out, Rogers picked up a ball in the dirt, and with Whit Merrifield trying to advance to second base, he fired a rope to second baseman Colt Keith.

In the fifth inning, Javier Báez fielded a ball to his backhand — deep in the hole — and threw a bullet to Torkelson for the second out. He stumbled while fielding the ball but kept his balance enough to make an accurate throw.

Starting off

Flaherty worked around singles in the first, second, third and fourth innings before retiring all three batters in the fifth. The Phillies had a 78.1 mph average exit velocity on 11 balls in play against him.

He generated 12 whiffs with four fastballs, five sliders and three curveballs.

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His seven strikeouts: Alec Bohm (swinging strike, 94.2 mph fastball) in the first inning, David Dahl (swinging strike, 79.2 mph curveball) in the second inning, Scott Kingery (called strike, 93.5 mph fastball) and Merrifield (swinging strike, 96.3 mph fastball) in the third inning, Edmundo Sosa (swinging strike, 78.2 mph curveball) and Aramis Garcia (swinging strike, 85.1 mph slider) in the fourth inning and Stevenson (swinging strike, 97.2 mph fastball) in the fifth inning.

He used his fastball to finish off four of the seven victims.

In the third inning, Flaherty worked ahead to Merrifield with a first-pitch slider for a called strike, then threw three consecutive fastballs: 93.2 mph for a ball, 94.6 mph for a called strike and 96.3 mph for a swinging strike. Increasing his velocity with each of those three pitches was by design.

Flaherty threw 38 fastballs, 21 sliders, eight curveballs, one changeup and one sinker. His fastball averaged 94.1 mph, up from 93.1 mph last season, but he reached back to hit his maximum — 97.2 mph — with his final pitch.

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At the plate

The Tigers finished with two hits, zero walks and eight strikeouts.

Both of the hits belonged to Parker Meadows, and both were pulled to right field. He delivered a single to in the third inning against left-hander Ranger Suárez (94.5 mph exit velocity) and a single in the sixth inning against right-hander David Buchanan (83.4 mph exit velocity).

Báez lined out to third base with a 105.1 mph exit velocity in the fifth inning.

He put his arms in the air in disappointment.

On the mound

After Flaherty, right-hander Shelby Miller, right-hander Alex Lange, left-hander Andrew Chafin and left-hander Tyler Holton pitched out of the bullpen.

All four were virtually perfect.

Only Sosa reached against the relievers, doing so on a fielding error by Andy Ibáñez to begin the eighth inning. Chafin sent down the next three batters on balls in play.

Three stars

1. Rogers, 2. Flaherty, 3. Meadows.

Next up

Wednesday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers.

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

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty shows zip in 0-0 tie with Philadelphia