The St. Louis Cardinals put on a clinic against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, winning 18-1 against its division rival.
Black Jack Flaherty got the start and put together his best performance of the season. Flaherty went seven innings of scoreless baseball and finished with a season-high 10 strikeouts.
Jack Flaherty's 7th, 8th and 9th Ks. pic.twitter.com/cxJcRJoCsw
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 16, 2023
The brother was on point as the game progressed and his team was able to back him up at the plate.
This is the type of dominance that we’ve been wanting to see from Flaherty, and we know he can continue to have more outings like this throughout the season.
During the start of the game, Flaherty did find himself in a little jam. In the top of the first inning, Flaherty was working on the mound with the bases loaded and one out. But a ground ball double play helped him get out of the inning.
After that, the Cardinals erupted on the offensive end, and Flaherty was able to settle in and get into a groove.
“Shutdown inning,” Flaherty said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding what he wanted to accomplish after that first inning. “After they go out there and score three in the bottom of the first – that was something I had not done all year, which is incredibly frustrating. To put together a shutdown right there and then continue to roll after that.”
10 K's for Jack Flaherty and a 4th straight game with a HR for Nolan Arenado! ♨️@markdero7 highlights last night's dominance from the @Cardinals, who have now won 7 of their last 8!#MLBCentral | #STLCards pic.twitter.com/bMkSriMRRY
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) May 16, 2023
This performance from Flaherty is exactly what the Cardinals wanted to see and this could spark a positive turnaround for our MLBbro.
Can we expect more of this from Flaherty throughout the season?
Through nine starts this season, Flaherty has a 3-4 record with a 5.24 ERA and 49 strikeouts. In the start on Monday against the Brewers, it was Flaherty’s longest outing of the season, something to take note of especially as the season progresses.
If Flaherty can continue to have outings where he’s going anywhere from five to seven innings and is effective, he can have a similar if not better season than the one he had back in 2019.
In recent years, Flaherty has been dealing with numerous injuries that allowed him to miss significant time on the field.
Now with him being healthy, we are starting to see the 27-year-old on more of a consistent basis.
And to be honest, the sky’s the limit for Flaherty. If he can stay healthy, he can become one of the most dominant pitchers in the game.
As we’ve seen in the past, he has a live arm and does a good job with mixing his off-speed into his pitching sequences.
Though the Cardinals are currently in last place in the division, it’s a long season and St. Louis has the team to make a turnaround and compete for a top spot in the division.
You can never count out the Cardinals, and Flaherty will play a vital role on the mound for his team throughout the season. Don’t be surprised if you continue to see more performances like the one on Monday from him.
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