PHOENIX _ As word starts to spread about him and strikeouts continue to mount against him, there is something Jack Flaherty is learning about the league as it learns about him.
It can be unforgiving.
The St. Louis Cardinals rookie made his second consecutive impressive road start and, just like the previous one, a single pitch capsized it. Paul Goldschmidt drilled a three-run home run off Flaherty in the fifth inning to erase the Cardinals' lead and slingshot Arizona to a 4-2 victory Tuesday night at Chase Field. Goldschmidt had been undone by Flaherty's slider in two previous at-bats, yielding to it and a fastball for two strikeouts. Third time's the harm.
Goldschmidt's two-out homer made a winner of righthander Zack Greinke (9-5) and leveled this three-game visit from the Cardinals at a game apiece. For the previous two weeks the Cardinals have oscillated between wins against standout starters like Cory Kluber and, on Monday, Robbie Ray, and a snootful of heinous losses, some of which have reeked of a stale team. This was a game somewhere in the middle _ not a win to halt such worries, but also not a loss to feed them. Greinke scattered seven hits and struck out four, and both runs against the former Cy Young Award winner came in a single inning.
Austin Gomber slithered free of trouble in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to a reversed call on a possible home run, and that froze Arizona's lead at two runs. The Cardinals brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth before Arizona closer Brad Boxberger struck out pinch-hitter Tyler O'Neill to secure a 20th save.
Flummoxed in the first inning by a strike zone that appeared to give Arizona starter Greinke a lane on the outside edge of the plate, the Cardinals capitalized on that to start a rally in the second inning. After seeing two teammates strike out as a result of fastballs placed a few inches off the plate, Yadier Molina reached out and drove that same pitch to right field for a single. Jedd Gyorko followed with a double. And by the time Greinke faced his fourth batter of the second inning, the Cardinals had two runs and the lead.
Quicksand swallowed the potential of a larger inning when Yairo Munoz, who had an RBI single, raced from first base on a fly ball hit by Flaherty and did not retreat. He was doubled off and the Cardinals' inning burned out before it burned bright.
One swing snuffed out that lead.
The pitch that Flaherty throws that is "different," according to manager Mike Matheny, and sets the pitcher apart because of the awkward swings it gets, is his slider.
Tight like a fastball, sharp like a cutter, it bends hitters at the waist.
Flaherty spun it often in the first innings, and he peeled through the Diamondbacks with two strikeouts in the second inning and a total of four through the first three innings. Two of them came from Goldschmidt. But in those at-bats it was clear the Diamondbacks' No. 2 hitter took the rookie's measure. He got plenty of views of the slider.
Goldschmidt saw six pitches in his first at-bat, and he struck out when he nicked a slider into catcher Molina's glove. Goldschmidt, who had four hits Monday night, saw four more pitches from Flaherty in the third inning _ and struck out on a 94.8 mph fastball. Of the first 10 pitches Goldschmidt saw from Flaherty, four were sliders. Three more were coming his way in the fifth inning, and Goldschmidt connected on the third to flip Flaherty's start.
Flaherty (3-4) regained control of the fifth inning after a leadoff double with a called strikeout and a groundout from Greinke. He hit leadoff hitter Jon Jay to bring Goldschmidt to the plate. Jay stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Flaherty's third go-round with Goldschmidt would include six pitches.
He got ahead 0-2 with a curveball ball and then a tight fastball. Both were called strikes. Goldschmidt fouled off a fastball before Molina and Flaherty went to the slider. And then the slider again. Each time the slider was in the dirt, trying to get Goldschmidt to chase after it. On a 2-2 pitch, Flaherty kept the slider up, closer to the strike zone, and Goldschmidt tagged it for a three-run, opposite-field home run over the right-field fence. The home run, Goldschmidt's 19th of the season, turned the Cardinals' one-run lead into a two-run deficit.
Flaherty's start went from dominant to not even quality.
It marked the second consecutive road start that Flaherty has bulldozed through the early innings and then had a home run sink the start _ in part because of the lack of offensive support. At Milwaukee two weeks ago, Flaherty toyed with a no-hitter before Jesus Aguilar's solo homer snapped the shutout and would lead to the Brewers' win in their last at-bat. This time, the Diamondbacks dinged Flaherty for a run in the first inning when three consecutive batters reached with two outs, and then nothing against the rookie until the fifth inning and Goldschmidt's jolt.
Flaherty allowed four runs on four hits, and two others reached base. He struck out seven, and there for a fleeting moment in the seventh it appeared the Cardinals might get him off the hook for a loss.
It took Arizona three pitchers to get the final out.
When they did, the bases would be loaded.
With two outs, No. 8 hitter Kolten Wong stung a single up the middle. He took second when pinch-hitter Greg Garcia stole an infield hit from Greinke. That nudged the starter from the game and brought lefty Jorge De La Rosa in to face leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter. De La Rosa walked Carpenter to load the bases, move the tying run into scoring position and end his evening. The third visit to the mound of the inning brought righthander Yoshihisa Hirano in to face Tommy Pham. In their search this past winter for bullpen help, the Cardinals had interest in Hirano, a closer in Japan, and saw him as an addition similar to Seung Hwan Oh.
But the righthander agreed to a two-year, $6 million deal with the Diamondbacks.
He was nothing Tuesday if not efficient.
With the bases loaded and two pitchers already in the dugout having tried to get that elusive third out, Hirano threw one pitch. It was a split-fingered fastball. Pham chopped it to third baseman Jake Lamb. Lamb stomped on third, and the inning ended.
