OAKLAND — Jack Flaherty’s last scheduled start, on Monday, had ended before it even began. He sat and watched from the dugout at Comerica Park instead, waiting for a trade that felt inevitable. In a trade deadline that ultimately lacked impact-level stars, Flaherty presented the most appealing option. When the Los Angeles Dodgers swooped in just minutes before Tuesday’s deadline to acquire him, they wanted to give their 28-year-old right-hander time. A start in July would matter less than the October starts they hope he can provide.
So when Flaherty took the mound Saturday to debut with his new team, it had been 10 days since he last pitched. As he came off the mound, he smacked his glove but did not yell.
The time off, Flaherty said, “felt so long.”
This was worth the wait. Flaherty, amid a resurgent year, was pitching in games that matter, with sights beyond that. The Dodgers, for all their struggles the last two months, are in an earnest division race as the calendar has flipped to August.
That stretch has made it clear how much they need Flaherty. In his first start, Flaherty showed why they went and got him, throwing six scoreless innings. The Dodgers won a baseball game for the first time since Flaherty donned a Detroit Tigers uniform, beating the Oakland Athletics, 10-0.
He allowed soft singles to the first two batters he faced before steadying himself for a scoreless first inning. After a leadoff single in the second, he’d retire 12 of the next 13 batters he faced, mixing in his curveball effectively to lefties and his slider well to righties. The trouble he faced in the sixth threatened to spiral and put a damper on whatever goodwill his debut could bring.
So much has gone wrong for the Dodgers the last two months that, when Cavan Biggio’s flip to Flaherty covering first base scooted far behind his new teammate, disaster appeared around the next corner. A bloop single represented the next papercut. So did a walk to Brent Rooker to load the bases with just a two-run lead.
Instead, Flaherty allowed the night to end on good terms.
“Just excited to be here and help the team win.” Jack Flaherty reflects on his Dodgers debut. pic.twitter.com/e3diKbbGc9
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 4, 2024
“You learn what they’re made of pretty quick,” catcher Will Smith said.
From his perch among the crowds in the Oakland Coliseum, Dave Roberts watched his new acquisition and let him work through the situation on his own.
“I need to learn him,” Roberts said. That will matter more in two months than it did on Saturday night.
Flaherty got Shea Langeliers to hit a groundball to Kiké Hernández that the third baseman fired home for the first out. Then he got Seth Brown to wave over a curveball in the dirt for his seventh strikeout of the night. Abraham Toro hit Flaherty’s first-pitch slider hard, but it was on the ground and right at shortstop Nick Ahmed. Flaherty did not storm off the mound, to the satisfaction of his manager.
“I liked that,” Roberts said. “Because that tells me there might be some more in there.”
So ended Flaherty’s debut, and just the second quality start the Dodgers have logged in the 38 days since Gavin Stone threw a complete game shutout in Chicago on June 26. Their starting pitching has been a mess ever since, entering with a 5.88 ERA (second-worst) in 127 innings (worst) in that span. A rotation in flux, an exhausted bullpen and a lineup without Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and others in it has presented a dreadful recipe for a team that has aspirations far higher than this.
Flaherty is the most notable domino the Dodgers acquired this week to help address their woes, which made the wait for his start drag on all the longer.
It was not the only good news the Dodgers got recently about what they have for the season’s final two months.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the bullpen mound at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, firing 20 pitches in the first session the right-hander has thrown since straining his rotator cuff in June; Roberts even allowed himself to formulate a vague form of timeline, saying, “We’re all hoping to get him back at some point in time in September.” Their bullpen might be restocked by then; Roberts said Michael Grove and Brusdar Graterol could return next week, with Ryan Brasier not far behind.
Mookie Betts could be back early in the next road trip as he quickly ramps up from his fractured left hand. A visit to the chiropractor has appeared to alleviate any lingering discomfort in Muncy’s strained oblique, allowing the third baseman to finally start ramping up swinging. Both will face live pitching this coming week at Dodger Stadium, as will deadline acquisitions Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas. Rehab assignments could soon follow.
“I’m excited to potentially get some guys back,” Roberts said, before acknowledging the reality of the last few months. “We’ll see.”
That wait has felt long, too.
(Photo: Robert Edwards / USA Today)
