Toronto – Manager AJ Hinch wanted to make sure Jack Flaherty didn’t bring any extra baggage across the border. And we aren’t talking about shoes or clothes.
We’re talking about any residue, emotional or physical, from his last couple of rough starts.
“Just get back to basics of what makes him good,” Hinch said before the game. “Spin, strike one, being in attack mode. He’s really good. So just clear his mind from the frustrations of the last couple of starts.
“New challenge, different lineup. It’s important for him not to carry previous starts into the current one.”
Flaherty responded with his best outing in two weeks, allowing only a two-run homer by Daulton Varsho in 5.2 strong innings and the Tigers hung on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, in the first of three at Rogers Centre.
But afterward, Flaherty wanted to talk about Javier Báez. And why not. Báez impacted this win with his glove (a sensational diving catch which he turned into a fast double-play), his bat (a 408-foot home run) and his eyes (more on that later).
BOX SCORE: Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4
“It just goes to show, you can’t write guys off,” Flaherty said. “You can’t give up on guys, especially a guy like that who is as talented as anybody who has ever played that game and someone, who as I’ve gotten to know him, is going to work hard. The adjustments he’s been able to make, even just embracing the move to center field, I’m so happy for him.
“It’s awesome to see.”
Báez’s catch, on a bullet in the right-center field gap, came in the second inning when Flaherty was still trying settle into the game. He’d just walked Addison Barger and the ball in the gap would given the Blue Jays an early lead.
Instead, Báez tracked it, caught it, got up and then fired a strike to first base to double off Barger.
“I was surprised with the catch,” Báez said. “I was kind of in between two jumps. I took the first step really good, though. I got to the ball good.”
Said Hinch: “I might be equally impressed with the throw. Just to be able to catch his breath for a second and throw a perfect one-hopper. Just an impactful play, very big at that point in the game to end the inning and keep Jack’s pitch-count down. And he did it on a field he’d never played center field on before.
“Awesome stuff.”
Báez’s home run, his sixth, came with two out in the eighth after the Blue Jays had made it a one-run game, 4-3. He poleaxed a 95-mph heater from reliever Chad Green that was at the top of the strike zone.
“That’s what we work for,” Báez said. “The last few games they’ve been throwing me a lot of fastballs. I’m always ready for the fastball but I didn’t get a hit until that last one. It feels good to give something to the team.”
He brought a home run back in the bottom off the seventh with his eyes. Barger hit a line drive over Báez’s head in center. The ball hit off the light blue line at the top of the dark blue wall. The umpire signaled home run and Báez immediately pointed to the dugout to challenge.
The Tigers did challenge and Báez was correct. It was a double. Barger ended up scoring anyway, though, on a single by Myles Straw.
“I guess the umpire thought it hit the back wall,” Báez said. “I don’t know.”
Flaherty was one pitch away from finishing the sixth inning twice. He got both Jonatan Clase and Bo Bichette to take 95-mph fastballs for called third strikes.
He got Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., to take two four-seamers for strikes before Guerrero topped a curveball that went 41 feet for an infield single.
Flaherty got two quick strikes on Varsho, too, and put a 95.7 mph fastball down and toward the outside corner. It wasn’t a bad pitch but Varsho launched it over the left field wall.
That one swing certainly didn’t diminish Flaherty’s bounce back performance.
“It was good to go out and execute and make pitches,” Flaherty said. “Especially as the game went on, even in the sixth, I was making some really, really good pitches and got more in sync. The ball started coming out better.”
His fastball command was sharp and he established it early, throwing strikes with six of eight four-seamers in the first inning. He was sticking it at the top and bottom rails of the strike zone, as well as dotting both the corners.
With the fastball established, Flaherty was able to work his knuckle-curve and slider in advantageous counts. He got five whiffs on 14 swings with the knuckle-curve and 21 called strikes with his four-seamer.
“He did a really good job of just going inning by inning,” Hinch said. “This was a really good step forward for him and a really important outing for us.”
It was encouraging, too, as Flaherty said, he hit maximum velocity with his four-seamer (96 mph) in the sixth inning with his pitch count climbing to 90.
Riley Greene was the offensive catalyst for the Tigers. He ambushed a first-pitch curveball from Blue Jays’ starter Bowden Francis and launched it over the high wall in left center. It was his 11th home run.
In the fifth inning, Greene lined a two-run double into the right-field corner.
“It seems like he is always in the middle of what we do well,” Hinch said. “He’s a guy you want up to bat. He’s going to get a good pitch to hit. Right now he’s seeing the ball very well. When he leaves (the yard) oppo and then can pull a ball in the same game — there’s not just one way he can beat you.”
In the last two games, Greene’s doubled twice, homered twice and knocked in five runs.
Zach McKinstry, who hadn’t homered since April 8, hit his second of the season into the right field seats in the fourth.
And when Beau Brieske got the third out, stranding two runners in the ninth, the Tigers became the first team in baseball to get to 30 wins.
“This is a testament to who Javy Báez is and how he is and how much work he’s put behind all everything he’s done,” Flaherty said. “It’s also a testament for a lot of players. No matter who wants to try to write you off or what they have to say, what that guy’s been able to do and how special he’s been, it’s just awesome.
“You knew it’s in there. It doesn’t just go away. I was able to see it a lot going up against him. I’ve seen him do some incredible things. It’s fun to watch.”
@cmccosky
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