Lakeland, Florida — The Detroit Tigers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2, on Sunday at Publix Field in Joker Marchant Stadium.
The Tigers are 20-9-3 in the Grapefruit League.
What happened
In his final spring training start, right-hander Jack Flaherty struck out four batters: José Caballero (foul tip, 86 mph slider), Austin Shenton (swinging strike, 79 mph curveball), Randy Arozarena (called strike, 94 mph fastball), and former Tiger Isaac Paredes (called strike, 95 mph fastball)..
Flaherty, who signed a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason, struck out eight batters with zero walks in 4⅔ innings. He threw 63 of 87 pitches for strikes. The 28-year-old concluded the spring with a 2.95 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 18⅓ innings in six games.
“Just the way my body is moving and the way that I’m able to repeat everything,” Flaherty went on to say. “Last year, I had some nice starts, innings, or hitters, but I couldn’t replicate them. The following time out, I was wondering where my body was in space. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at repeating things this spring.”
Flaherty’s last four strikeouts included Richie Palacios (swinging strike, 80 mph curveball), Caballero (swinging strike, 85 mph slider), Arozarena (called strike, 86 mph slider), and René Pinto (called strike, 95 mph fastball)..
His fastball averaged 93.8 mph, up from 93.1 last year, and peaked at 96.1 mph.
