Tigers Veteran Starting Pitcher Jack Flaherty Sounds Off on Recent Struggles

Things are reaching a boiling point for a Detroit Tigers veteran starting pitcher.

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Panic hasn’t fully set in for the Detroit Tigers yet, but there is certainly some uneasiness circulating throughout the clubhouse as the team is struggling to consistently get the job done on the field.

What was once a 14-game lead in the American League Central is down to 5.5 games, with the Cleveland Guardians playing some really good baseball over the last few weeks. They are putting some game pressure on a Tigers team that has been mired in a long-term slump outside of a four-game winning streak that occurred heading into the MLB trade deadline.

After beating the Tampa Bay Rays on July 8, Detroit moved a season-high 25 games over the .500 mark. Since that point, they have gone 10-18, which includes a sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates and a series loss against the Minnesota Twins, two teams that sold at the deadline.

Series against playoff teams, such as the Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays also resulted in losses. The team is not playing well and frustrations are starting to boil over, especially for starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.

The veteran right-hander returned to the Tigers for a second straight free agency, this time agreeing to a two-year, $35 million deal that has a player option for Year 2. In a perfect world, he would replicate the success he had in the first half of 2024 when Detroit was able to move him ahead of the MLB trade deadline to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Only this time, he would be helping the Tigers on a push to the World Series and he would be able to enter free agency on a high note again. Alas, that has not been the case, with Flaherty struggling mightily and things potentially reaching a breaking point on Tuesday.

Jack Flaherty has struggled for Tigers

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He took the mound against the Chicago White Sox and did not fare well across his 4.1 innings of work. Eight hits and one walk were registered against him, resulting in five earned runs being scored along with six strikeouts.

After the game, Flaherty could not hold in his frustrations, with a season of disappointment, for him personally, getting the best of him.

"It's kind of frickin' hard at this point to chalk [expletive] up to bad luck. I mean, call it what you want. You execute pitches and balls fall in, you can say sh#t is bad luck, but it's just frustrating at this point,” he said, via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press on X.

Jack Flaherty, who has a 4.76 ERA in 24 starts: "It's kind of frickin' hard at this point to chalk shit up to bad luck. I mean, call it what you want. You execute pitches and balls fall in, you can say shit is bad luck, but it's just frustrating at this point." #Tigers https://t.co/T2u1VYfUZ3

— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) August 13, 2025

His performance has not been close to what he provided the team with in 2024. Through 24 starts, he has a 4.76 ERA across 124.2 innings pitched. The strikeout numbers have been impressive with 153 total and 11.0 K/9 ratio, which would be a career high.

But, he has suffered the most losses in the AL with 12 and has not been able to consistently find his form. He will put together two great starts, as he did at the end of July and into August against the Blue Jays and Phillies.

That has been followed up by two duds against the Twins and White Sox, two teams not close to the playoff picture. There were expectations on Flaherty to be the No. 2 behind Tarik Skubal, but that level of production has not been provided to this point, which makes the Tigers' lack of a splash ahead of the trade deadline all the more difficult to understand.