Detroit, MI
Detroit Tigers’ Jack Flaherty likes ‘shapes’ of pitches in 7-3 loss to Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League Baseball Players Association visits Detroit Tigers
Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark talks to reporters March 2, 2024, about several topics in Lakeland, Florida.
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.”
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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.
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 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.
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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.
After getting absolutely annihilated in his previous start on Monday in Minnesota to the tune of 11 runs in just 1.2 innings, Garrett Crochet is set to retake the mound today and convince us all that everything will be fine as far as he and his health are concerned.
Unfortunately, he won’t just be battling the Tigers. Mother Nature is once again destined to play a roll in today’s match up, and here’s how the radar looks inside of an hour from first pitch:
The good news is the initial batch of heavier precipitation has moved out and east of Boston, but more unsettled weather still lurks to the west ahead of a slow moving front. That mess will push through eastern Massachusetts over the next several hours, filling in the current dry slot. While this incoming precipitation won’t be as heavy as what fell at times earlier today, it will come attached with colder and windier conditions, so a miserable weather game lies ahead (if they even try and play through it at all — The Yankees did not and waited around for three hours before starting their game against the Royals at 4:20pm). The other option will be to just wait until after sunset when it will be dryer, but still very cold and windy.
When they do get started, today’s lineup includes Roman Anthony leading off in leftfield, Andruw Monasterio at first base, and Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer all starting on the bench with an opposing left-handed starter on the mound in Framber Valdez for Detroit.
OTM’s own pitching guru Jacob Roy will be around later to handle the postgame wrap and tell us if we should should be freaking out or breathing a sigh a relief when it comes to Crochet.
The Pistons have made recent moves to add more shooting, but still don’t have anyone quite as lethal as former Detroit guard Luke Kennard. On Saturday night, Kennard had a brilliant start to his postseason with 27 uber-efficient points for the Lakers in a win against the Rockets. His level of 3-point accuracy is something the Pistons have desperately been seeking all season long to bolster their offense.
Luke Kennard’s shooting makes him a dangerous playoff performer
Kennard was originally drafted to Detroit with the 17th pick of the 2017 Draft. The Pistons have plenty of draft regrets from that general era of team history, but picking Kennard has never been one of them. Despite any other weaknesses he may have, his strength as a shooter has always been enough to offset them.
In terms of pure 3-point percentage, Kennard is one of the best shooters in NBA history. He averages 44% behind the arc for his career, and shot a blistering 48% this season – the best mark in the league. Given his incredible track record, it’s not exactly a shocker to see him shoot 5-of-5 from three en route to 27 points in Game 1.
Not only is Kennard obviously an excellent standstill shooter, but he’s also a master of getting himself open with his movement. On Saturday night, he was able to play off LeBron James perfectly for a few easy looks. After that, he caught enough of a rhythm to create 3-point looks for himself, even in transition.
A player like Kennard is easily capable of turning an entire playoff game when he gets hot. In a close series, that one game where Kennard hits several threes can be all the difference his team needs to advance. If the Lakers do manage to win this series, even without Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves, Kennard’s shooting will be a major reason why.
The Pistons could use someone like Kennard
Kennard would be a perfect marginal addition for the Pistons that only makes them better without taking anything away from the team. To be fair, the Pistons do have two shooters who have been hot recently in Duncan Robinson and Kevin Huerter. But having more than one respected shooter on the court at a time is often necessary to maintain a solid offense in today’s NBA.
Given the Pistons’ current lack of shooting, any additional shooters are welcome. And Kennard is understandably one of the most feared shooters in the league, capable of bending defenses just by the threat of him taking a three. Rolling him out on the Pistons would surely open up more lanes for Detroit’s stars to attack the paint and score easier points.
Follow
A Detroit woman was arrested in the aftermath of a hit-and-run collision and shooting on Interstate 94, Michigan State Police reported.
Emergency dispatchers were called shortly after midnight Saturday about the altercation. Troopers reported the caller said while they were driving eastbound on I-94, near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a black Jeep sideswiped them and sped off.
The caller then decided to follow the Jeep.
In response, police said, the driver of the Jeep fired several gunshots in the caller’s direction.
None of the gunshots struck the vehicle.
Troopers were able to use license plate reader camera technology to locate the Jeep while it was on the Lodge Freeway, made a traffic stop. The driver and two passengers were taken into custody without incident.
The passengers were released shortly afterwards; troopers believe that the 19-year-old driver was the shooter. She has been lodged pending further review by the prosecutor’s office.
In addition, a firearm was recovered from the vehicle.
The above video originally aired on Aug. 19, 2025.
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