Flaherty struck out three batters on the day and didn’t allow a base on balls. After retiring the first eight batters that he faced in order, the Royals strung together seven consecutive two-out hits in the third inning to push six runs across. Flaherty then settled in and kept the Royals off the board until he allowed the first two hitters to reach in the sixth inning - both of which ultimately scored against the Tigers’ bullpen. He got just six whiffs on 87 pitches on the day, registering a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll try to pick up the pieces as he carries a miserable 4.87 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 165/50 K/BB ratio (136 2/3 innings) into a rematch against the Royals in Kansas City on Saturday.

Flaherty has been terribly inconsistent, but it’s nice to see he can still do this on occasion. The nine strikeouts matched a season high, which he’d already achieved four times. He won just the seventh time opposite 12 losses. The Tigers are 8-17 when he pitches and 66-36 the rest of the time. He’ll face the Royals on Sunday.

Flaherty had shut out the White Sox through his first four frames, but everything fell apart in the fifth as they put together six singles in the first seven batters of the inning to push four runs across. Another run would score against the bullpen after Flaherty exited. Overall, he surrendered five runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out six. He got 19 whiffs on 86 pitches in the game — 12 on his knuckle curve — while posting a CSW of 35 percent. He’ll look to bounce back as he carries a 4.76 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 153/49 K/BB ratio (124 2/3 innings) into Monday’s matchup against the Astros.