To an ace, achieving the minimum requirements of a quality start earns the merit of a participation ribbon.
For a quality start — the statistic, not the plaudit — a starter must go at least six innings and allow three or fewer earned runs. But the way Jack Flaherty looked at his April 19 outing — he only went six innings. And he allowed two earned runs — that’s two more than desired.
And so, he scoffed at the notion of accomplishing a quality start.
Told of this, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said: “I love it, I absolutely love it. It’s a mindset. Life’s a mindset, this game’s a mindset and he’s got a really elite one.”
And on Sunday, Flaherty pitched a quality quality start.
Seven innings, one run. Three hits, six strikeouts. No walks, one hit by pitch.
Jack is back. After a couple of ERA-disfiguring starts in 2020 — and a dubious first start to start 2021 — he’s pitching like it is 2019. Flaherty is commanding games with the audacity of an All-Star — and he very well could be one if he keeps this up. More importantly, he’s fueled by a dissatisfaction with being, merely, good.
“He’s in control completely of what he’s doing,” Shildt said Sunday after the Cardinals’ 5-2 win, which swept the Cincinnati series. “And if he has a small miss, he gets right back to making a pitch that he wants to make. He’s doing a great job, he’s in a great spot, he’s a great talent.”
Flaherty’s Sunday start was a flare — a signal to doubters or skeptics, as well as to the Brewers, Cubs and Pirates. It was a masterful outing against a club that entered the day leading all of baseball in runs and home runs.
In fact, Flaherty went his first trip through the order without allowing a hit. It was impressive to watch his game plan against certain hitters — for instance, all five pitches in Nick Castellanos’ first at-bat were sliders, the fifth one popped up for an out. And Flaherty used his four-seam fastball to get ahead in counts — and, really, to do everything.
“You’re seeing a guy that’s trusting his fastball, using his fastball, got good life to his fastball,” said Shildt, whose club now is 11-10. “And the slider is on the plate for strikes. Looks like strike out of the hand, (then) falling under and off a little bit. He’s got the curveball, sprinkling in a changeup and he’s throwing to both sides of the plate.”
Quite simply, he’s pitching like an ace.
Every team has an opening-day starter, but not every team has an ace. Jack is dealing. He’s allowed four earned runs total in his past four starts (after allowing six in his first start of 2021 to these same Reds).
And the Cardinals sure back that ace up.
The run support given to Flaherty is whopping. Eye-popping.
In his five starts, the Cardinals have averaged 8.4 runs per game. And this is the Cardinals, whose offense entered Sunday with the 20th-best on-base percentage in baseball. In his career, Flaherty now is 20-1 when receiving at least three runs of support (and 18-0 when receiving four or more).
“Coming out the gates and filling up the zone, I felt like I was able to do that a lot better today,” Flaherty said. “Command of everything was pretty good. Just got myself in better counts — it allowed me more freedom to work in different pitches. . . .
“I’d still like to go deeper — I was still feeling good out there after the seventh. But we had a plan. We were going to turn it over to (Jordan Hicks and Alex Reyes), and they got it done. (Andrew) Knizner was really good today — he caught a really good game. He had command. We were pretty much in-sync.”
Credit to “Kiz.” The receiver has been well-received while filling in for Yadier Molina. From the heady hustle plays to navigating hectic innings, he was competent and confident. He’s an ace-in-the-hole for the ace (Molina should return Monday, Shildt said).
Now, Molina and Knizner, as well as the coaches, work diligently with the staff in meetings and chats. Last year, though, it was tougher to do during the pandemic. The only thing routine about the 2020 season was the lack of routine. Perhaps that affected Flaherty, whose ERA was 4.91.
“It’s been good to get back into a routine — it definitely took a minute to get back into it,” Flaherty said of 2021. “Doing scouting reports and (being) able to look at the numbers and things like that, which is stuff we weren’t necessarily able to do at the field last year. So it’s been nice to have and to get back into those little things, where you might be able to find an edge in the routine by just being prepared.”
The quality start isn’t the only stat for pitchers that is scrutinized. Just like a pitcher can pitch a season of only quality starts and have a 4.50 ERA, a pitcher’s win total doesn’t always translate to how good a pitcher is. Many times it does, yes.
But just look at the National League’s best pitcher, the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, who has a 0.31 ERA in his four starts. He’s only 2-1. And so, we take this all into account when dissecting wins. OK, with that out of the way, the NL’s leader in wins is . . . Jack Flaherty. He’s 4-0.
But he surely wishes he were 5-0.
“He’s our No. 1 one guy,” Reyes said. “Yeah, he is our ace.”
