There’s not enough great things to say about Jack Flaherty, especially since July began. Flaherty has been the games best starter since then, and it’s really not up for debate.
His command is at an all time best, case in point– he threw 113 pitches tonight, throwing 84 for strikes.
It was one of those starts after a couple of innings, you got that no-no feeling in your stomach. Hell, hasn’t that been every Flaherty start this stretch run?
Jack was so good that the Giants only hit one “hard hit” ball according to statcast, facing a total of 26 batters. The only hard hit ball being a fly out off the bat of Dickerson in the 2nd inning, 95.5mph to Ozuna in LF.
Jack had the strikeouts rolling, too. He would collect 8 k’s, touching 97mph on the gun for his final k in the 8th inning, getting Pillar looking at a perfectly painted heater on the outside corner.
I don’t want to brush the cardinals defense aside, either. They were flat out insane tonight. Tommy Edman had his own highlight reel in the 4th, taking away base hits from Belt and Longoria, the best play coming on Longoria as he barehanded a slow chopper coming in.
Haaaaaarrry made a slick diving catch to end Flaherty’s evening, taking away a bloop single from Dubon.
Carlos would close things out for Flaherty in the 9th, needing only 10 pitches to pick up his 18th save. The Giants would square up a couple balls off Carlos, who would get some defensive help of his own, as Dex would leap in front of the RF warning track to take away extra bases and the possible tying run from Belt.
SWAGS provided the offense, blasting his 25th HR of the season off Rodríguez in the bottom of the 6th, a solo shot into Big __ac Land to make it 1-0 Cardinals. Swags turned around the hanging curve, drilling it 393 feet with 109mph exit velocity.
The Giants would have three base runners, none of which would reach 2nd base.
A September baseball game lasting two hours and eleven minutes, quick, somebody tell Bob Nightengale.
Michael Wacha (6-6, 5.07) gets the ball tomorrow evening on short rest, matching up with the Mad Bum* (9-8, 3.62). First pitch 6:45pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew