Tempers flare between Tigers and Diamondbacks' dugouts over pitching mound at Chase Field

PHOENIX — Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty stood at the top of his dugout; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo stood at the top of his dugout.

From there, a shouting match − with a swear word from Louvullo and hand gestures from both − ensued in the seventh inning of Saturday's game between the Tigers and Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Diamondbacks bench coach Jeff Banister added to the shouts, while Flaherty acted alone on his side.

"You saw what happened," Lovullo said. "I thought that there were some things coming out of their side that really were rubbing us the wrong way at a certain point, and I'd had enough. Trust me, what happened there, what you guys saw, what everybody saw, wasn't the first thing that happened. I can hold serve on one thing, but we felt like there was more than just that situation that popped up, and I'd had enough."

Lovullo didn't explain the reason for the exchange, but the Lovullo-Flaherty shouting match in the seventh inning took place after Flaherty and Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen spent several innings changing the shape of mound − specifically in front of the rubber − to their personal preferences.

It became a game within the game.

"That's for them," Flaherty said. "I didn't have any issues with it."

When Flaherty took the mound, he picked up the ball and kicked more than 25 times at the dirt in front of the rubber with his right cleat. When Gallen took the mound, he called the grounds crew onto the field to fix the hole created by Flaherty, which delayed the game.

"It just made the innings longer," Flaherty said, when asked if the situation disrupted his rhythm. "That's a question for them."

Gallen kept calling on the grounds crew to polish the mound, only for Flaherty to dig another hole.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn't have much to say about the situation, but it was the first time he has seen a grounds crew come onto the field before every half inning to fix the mound because of a pitcher's preference.

"Never every inning without weather," Hinch said. "But whatever it takes to have a safe playing surface. Obviously, they didn't both like the same mound at the same time."

The non-verbal back-and-forth between pitchers took place in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, with the verbal exchange between Lovullo and Flaherty happening immediately after the Tigers scored five of their six runs − including the first three runs to chase Gallen − in the seventh inning.

"I know what was going on because I know Zac, but they let him continue to fix it every inning," said Flaherty, who was teammates with Gallen in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization. "I don't know. I haven't had any other pitcher go against me has had to get the mound fixed like that, but it is what it is. You just keep pitching."

The reason for Gallen's antics: He felt tightness in his right hamstring and didn't want to suffer an injury, similar to the hamstring issue he dealt with earlier this season. The reason for Flaherty's antics: He just likes the mound that way, going all the way back to high school.

"Maybe my back foot was getting into a compromising position," Gallen said, "and maybe making me use different muscles, so I just wanted to be safe about it."

Flaherty, who has pitched in 140 games across his eight-year MLB career, said an opposing pitcher has never had a problem with the way he sculpts the mound − until Gallen.

"I do it every time," Flaherty said. "Every mound I get on, I kick it out. My high school coaches, they can fix the mound up, but they know the second I get on there, I'm going to kick it out. For whatever reason, my foot feels better that way. It wasn't like a huge divot or anything, but everybody wants the mound a certain way. If they're going to let him fix it, then why not take advantage of it, which he did."

In the end, both Flaherty and Gallen pitched well on the mound at Chase Field.

Flaherty allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts across six innings; Gallen allowed three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts across 6⅔ innings, without a walk. The Tigers and Diamondbacks were scoreless until Flaherty gave up his two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Tigers won, 8-3, for back-to-back wins in the desert, thanks to 21 runs in two games and dominant pitching efforts from Flaherty and left-hander Tarik Skubal.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers, Diamondbacks' tempers flare over pitching mound at Chase Field