Flaherty set to make much-anticipated return to majors against Pirates
St. Louis right-hander Jack Flaherty will be facing the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time in his career Saturday when the Cardinals play the middle game of a series at PNC Park.
There is a growing set of voices calling for Flaherty to get a steadier diet of starts against major league clubs.
Flaherty (0-0, 1.80 ERA) will face Pittsburgh right-hander Trevor Williams (3-1, 2.15 ERA).
Flaherty, 22, has been consistently graded as one of St. Louis' top prospects. This will be the second time this season he is being recalled to fill in for injured veteran Adam Wainwright.
On April 3 as a spot starter, Flaherty pitched five innings, allowing one run with a career-high nine strikeouts but did not get a decision in a 5-4 St. Louis loss at Milwaukee.
He is coming off an impressive outing his last time out for Triple-A Memphis, where he was 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts since that game at Milwaukee.
On April 19, Flaherty had his first professional complete game, a seven-inning outing at Omaha. He gave up two runs and two hits.
"It feels good to go deep in a game any time -- beginning of the season, end of the season. It just means things are going well," Flaherty told MLB.com. "And I'm just trying to keep that into next start and keep starts like this going."
He likely didn't know that next start would be in a major league park.
Flaherty allowed more than three run only once in 18 appearances in Triple-A the past two seasons.
In his complete game against Omaha, 67 of his 95 pitches were strikes, and he got 11 of 26 batters out with three or fewer pitches. He set down the first 10 Omaha hitters.
"I felt really comfortable, and I was just looking to get some really quick outs," he said.
Flaherty is rejoining the Cardinals (15-10) at a time when things were going well before the series opener. St. Louis is coming off a 5-1 homestand but blew a five-run lead and lost 6-5 in 11 innings on Friday.
It was the third win in a row for Pittsburgh (15-11).
Williams is coming off a start where his results were perhaps better than his performance.
He carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning on Sunday at Philadelphia and got a no-decision after allowing two runs and one hit in six innings with five walks and seven strikeouts.
As the walks might reveal, Williams had some difficulty hitting the strike zone. Of his 92 pitches, only slightly more than half (49) were strikes. He had a 3-0 count seven times.
"We maintained a good plan, and we stuck with what had worked," Williams said. "We pitched to weak contact.
"You walk a tightrope when you walk five guys. Luckily, the big inning didn't happen for them."
The Cardinals will have to make a corresponding move to add Flaherty to their roster -- their third transaction involving the pitching staff in as many days. The Cardinals made a change in their bullpen, recalling right-hander Mike Mayers from Triple-A Memphis and optioning right-hander John Gant to Memphis, one day after Gant had been recalled to replace the demoted John Brebbia.
