Tigers’ Rematch With Cardinals Brings Flaherty’s First Start Back Into Focus
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The Detroit Tigers got their season at Comerica Park underway Friday afternoon, shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals by the final score of 4-0. Framber Valdez was dominant on the mound and now passes the baton to Jack Flaherty, making his second start of the 2026 campaign.
Flaherty didn't pitch horribly in his first start of the season against the San Diego Padres, but he must generate more swings and misses if he wants to be successful this year. Luckily for him, the last time he took on his former team as a Tiger was the best pitching performance of his career (strikeout-wise).
Revisting Flaherty's 2024 Start vs Cardinals
Flaherty made his debut in Detroit in 2024, pitching dominantly for the franchise, which led to his trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers to compete for that year's World Series. In April of 2024, Flaherty faced the Cardinals, the team that took him 34th overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, for the first time.
As Tigers fans got to know Flaherty, his first performance against St. Louis made a real impact on how they viewed his pitching style. Flaherty allowed just two hits to the Cardinals, allowing zero runs and striking out a career-high 14 batters with just one walk.
He pitched in 6.2 innings, facing 23 batters along the way. And despite Flaherty pitching one of the best games in his career, the Tigers let the game go in the ninth inning, losing by the final score of 2-1. Flaherty didn't get the loss, but it was surely a gutpunch.
The Tigers' offense was an issue back in early 2024, resulting in the loss following Flaherty's gem of a game. Now two years removed, the offense is looking to string together a nice stretch of runs, and this time, helping Flaherty beat his former team.
It has to be sitting in Flaherty's mind that he was unable to record the win from that performance, which should only fuel his pitching attack on Saturday, April 4, 2026. So long as Flaherty keeps the ball in the ballpark, which hasn't plagued him yet but was an issue last season, he should be successful.
Some of the losses that Flaherty is handed are due to bloop hits that the defense can't get to, but with the Tigers playing in front of fans for the second time this season at Comerica Park, it would be foolish not to think momentum is on Detroit's side.
Dominic Minchella is a 2024 Eastern Michigan University graduate with a BA in Communications, Media, and Theatre Arts and a Journalism minor. He covers Major League Baseball for On SI and spends his free time watching games and sharing his insights.