Flaherty's trouble with short starts adds to Tigers' rotation woes 

NEW YORK -- The Tigers have been looking for length from their starting rotation, but lately it’s been hard to get anyone to pitch at least six innings.

In fact, ever since ace Tarik Skubal was scratched from his start on May 4 because of a left elbow injury that eventually required surgery, Tigers starters have averaged 2.81 innings per start, with a 6.86 ERA and six walks in seven starts. Detroit has been forced to use several openers over that stretch after Skubal joined Casey Mize and Justin Verlander on the injured list while Framber Valdez served a five-game suspension for throwing at Trevor Story.

One can look at Tuesday’s game against the Mets to understand why the Tigers are having problems on the mound. It was Jack Flaherty’s turn to give Detroit a quality start, and it didn’t happen in a 10-2 loss to New York at Citi Field.

Flaherty had a 2-0 lead by the second inning, but he was out of the game with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. He threw 97 pitches. Flaherty simply had problems putting hitters away. The Mets had long at-bats and managed to tie the game by the bottom of the third inning.

The second frame was Flaherty’s worst. He threw 36 pitches as the Mets cut the lead in half. MJ Melendez touched home plate after Francisco Alvarez hit into a force play.

“For me, it’s just long at-bats,” Flaherty said. “I've got to find a way to get quick outs and get back into the dugout like we did in the first. I wasn’t able to find quick outs.”

An inning later, Flaherty threw 22 additional pitches and allowed an RBI single to Mark Vientos. Before he left the game in the fourth, Alvarez scored the third run of the game on a single by Carson Benge.

“It looked like … the Mets kept working long at-bats, getting at least into a three-ball count and then taking advantage of a few pitches,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

Flaherty has been unable to complete at least four innings in four of his past five starts, and he has walked three or more batters in seven of his nine starts this season. His 29 walks this year are tied with A’s right-hander Luis Severino for the most in the Majors.

“The key [for Flaherty] is to stay convicted in the at-bat,” Hinch said. “When you get leverage, take advantage of it and not let them back in the count. That was the problem tonight.”

Even worse than Flaherty’s outing, Detroit's offense went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Tigers had a chance to tie the score at 3 in the fifth inning off Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta. With Colt Keith on first and two outs, Riley Greene singled to right field. Keith advanced to third safely, but the throw from Benge went past third baseman Brett Baty.

Keith raced towards home, but he crashed into third-base umpire Rob Drake. Keith still thought he had a chance to score, but was thrown out at the plate by Peralta.

“I’m not sure why [Drake] was there, but that was a weird play, and the ball bounced back and Peralta was there,” Hinch said.

Said Keith, “I had a great view. I saw the ball go past [Baty]. I see the ball going toward the fence. Peralta is not there. I immediately get up and take off. As soon as I turn my head, I run into somebody. So I just pushed him out of the way and kept going.

“I definitely think I would have been safe if I didn’t run into him. It’s part of it.”

The Tigers have lost six of their past seven games and their 7-17 record on the road is the worst in the Majors. But Hinch always looks forward and thinks about the next day -- don’t live in the past.

“What else do we have? It’s the next day’s game,” Hinch said. “Obviously, you can look at it in a lot of different ways. We have to do a lot of better things to make tomorrow better than it was today. All we have is tomorrow’s game.”