ST. LOUIS — Jack Flaherty’s return to the big league mound for the first time since June 26 was promising as he finessed his way through five innings, allowing just one run. But he was outdone by Nationals starter Anibal Sanchez, who had dominated the Cardinals in the 2019 postseason and did it again Monday, holding held them to just two hits in five innings in what turned out to be a 6-0 loss for the Cardinals on Labor Day at Busch Stadium.
Almost all the Nationals' damage was done against the Cardinals bullpen and Flaherty had to scramble to get out of the game allowing only one run. The Nationals had a runner on in each of Flaherty’s five innings. After giving up a run in the third, he struck out three Nationals with a runner on second. In the fourth, Washington had runners on second and third with one out and Flaherty escaped without allowing a run. In the fifth, Washington had runners on first and third with one out and he again got out of the jam with two fly outs.
After five innings, he had thrown 91 pitches and came out. He allowed one run on six hits, striking out six and walking one and hitting a batter. Washington left seven runners on base in Flaherty’s five innings.
Flaherty didn’t have a pitch limit for the game, having thrown 102 pitches in his last rehab start with Springfield. Of his 91 pitches, 59 were strikes, with 14 of them swings and misses.
