Flaherty strikes out two in first rehab outing, eyes end-of-year return

Tigers starter Jack Flaherty threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up one hit with a walk and two strikeouts in his first rehab outing for Triple-A Toledo on Sunday night at Fifth Third Field.

Flaherty, out since July 21 with right flexor inflammation, gave up a one-out double and a two-out walk in an 18-pitch opening inning but struck out Pirates youngster Tyler Callihan on a curveball to end the scoreless frame. Flaherty returned for the second inning to get a first-pitch groundout from Robert Hassell III before exiting. The quick hook was by design as the Tigers ease his workload.

“It's intentional to have just a short burst of an inning to increase the intensity in a test for him,” manager A.J. Hinch explained Sunday morning. “He will build off of that after this outing.”

Flaherty finished with 19 pitches, 13 for strikes. He threw nine fastballs averaging 91.8 mph down a tick from his season average (92.7 mph), but also spun some sliders and curveballs.

The Tigers hope to get Flaherty back in their rotation before the season ends, whether or not they’re in contention by then. He’ll likely work in shorter stints, possibly as a piggyback starter, but the Tigers want to give him a chance to demonstrate his health before he hits free agency this offseason.

“I think we owe it to him,” Hinch said. “He certainly feels responsible to us to get back and contribute something. Now, we don't have time to build him up to four, five and six innings, but we'll see where he's at after this outing or multiple outings or whatever's going to happen. But I certainly hope that he pitches in the big leagues because he's worked hard to demonstrate his health.”