Jack Flaherty does not need to wait long for a chance at redemption against the Kansas City Royals.
The veteran right-hander will look to rebound from last weekend’s rough outing against the American League Central foe and help the Detroit Tigers to a second straight win over the host Royals on Saturday
In his first four career starts versus Kansas City, spanning 2018-21 while pitching for St. Louis, Flaherty allowed just two runs and nine hits over 25 innings while earning a win in each game.
Then, Flaherty took the mound against the Royals at home Sunday for the first time with the Tigers and was tagged for eight runs and 10 hits over five innings of a 10-8 loss.
Flaherty (7-13, 4.87 ERA), who retired the first eight Royals he faced in that matchup, allowed six of those runs with two outs in the third inning to turn the game upside down.
“We score eight runs, it should be a win every time,” Flaherty said.
“I’ve got to do a better job.”
Though Flaherty yielded just three hits and struck out nine in seven scoreless innings of a 10-0 win over Houston in his start prior to facing Kansas City, he’s 1-3 with a 6.33 ERA in his five August outings.
However, the AL Central-leading Tigers are 8-3 versus Kansas City this season. Riley Greene had three hits, including a two-run, go-ahead double in the fourth inning that helped Detroit erase a 3-0 first-inning hole and eventually win 5-3 in Friday’s series opener that snapped a four-game losing streak.
“Just focusing on helping my team win,” Greene told FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. He reached the 100-RBI mark for the first time in his career Friday.
“We know we’re never out of it,” he said. “Just keeping grinding through it.”
Greene is batting .326 with 10 RBIs in 11 games versus Kansas City this season.
He and the Tigers will get face Stephen Kolek (4-5, 4.18), who was called up from Triple-A Omaha and scheduled to start in his Royals debut Saturday with Michael Wacha on the paternity list.
Acquired along with Ryan Bergert in the deadline deal that sent catcher Freddy Fermin to San Diego, the right-hander made 14 starts for the Padres but has not thrown on a major-league mound since July 27.
Kansas City, 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Tigers and trying to reach a wild-card position in the AL, is 4-5 since winning five in a row. They are three games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final wild-card berth.
“All we can do is play good baseball and win,” the Royals’ Jonathan India told FanDuel Sports Network.
“I think a lot of us here are very determined. We’re hard workers.”
Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. is determined to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. He’s batting .388 over the past 17 contests.
Teammate Mike Yastrzemski has homered in two straight games and gone deep seven times in 25 games since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants last month. Yastrzemski is batting .381 with five of those home runs in the past 13 contests.
-Field Level Media