Acquired at the trade deadline, Flaherty allowed five hits and struck out seven in his first start for the Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani joined the 30-30 club with three stolen bases in the game.
OAKLAND — Jack Flaherty understood the assignment.
Acquired to stabilize an unsteady starting rotation and give the Dodgers hope for a dominant start at least once every five days, Flaherty did just that in his debut, giving the Dodgers six scoreless innings and working his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. With that, he helped the Dodgers end a three-game losing streak by beating the Oakland A’s 10-0 Saturday night.
“Any time you get a chance to help the team win, that’s kind of all that matters. That’s the important part of it,” Flaherty said. “I’ll take the time tonight and kind of soak it all in. I’m just excited to be here and have a chance to help this team.”
There was plenty to soak in.
Fueled by a post-game fireworks show and a steady flow of Dodgers fans looking to check Oakland Coliseum off their bucket list before it’s too late, the game drew 35,047. It was the A’s largest crowd since last August — even larger than the crowd on hand next door at Oakland Arena for a Monster Jam event.
They witnessed some history. With three stolen bases, Shohei Ohtani became only the third player in Dodgers history to have a 30-30 season. Matt Kemp (2011) and Raul Mondesi (1997 and 1999) did it previously. There have been 70 30-30 seasons in MLB history.
“I’m just really focused on putting up the numbers and just doing my job,” Ohtani said after the game on 570 AM. “I’m happy that I was able to do that tonight.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he could see Ohtani’s determination in spring training to use his speed and be more of a factor on the bases this season.
“He wasn’t going to be a pitcher this year so he was really focusing with Brandon McDaniel (vice president of player performance) and his staff on keeping his body in a good spot to use his legs, which he was really excited about being able to run free,” Roberts said. “You obviously knew he was going to hit homers. I do think 40-40 is something that was on his radar from spring training, and him and (Dodgers coach) Clayton McCullough have a very good relationship and so there’s a lot of trust between those two as far as tendencies with pitchers and things like that.
“(Yankees slugger Aaron) Judge is certainly having a tremendous year but Shohei as far as the foot speed, what he can do offensively, he’s one of one.”
The Dodgers went down to the wire at the trade deadline before sending two minor-league prospects (Triple-A shortstop Trey Sweeney and Class-A catcher Thayron Liranzo) to the Detroit Tigers for the best starting pitcher to change teams this week.
Flaherty hadn’t pitched in nine days while awaiting his fate. Whether it was that or the nerves of trying to make a good first impression, Flaherty gave up back-to-back singles to start his Dodger debut. Neither was hard-hit and Flaherty extricated himself from trouble with a pop foul and two strikeouts.
“It was nice to get back out there,” Flaherty said. “I didn’t know when it was going to be or who it was going to be with. So it felt like it’s been awhile since I’ve been on the mound.”
While Flaherty was breezing through the A’s lineup over the next four innings. The Dodgers staked him to a slim lead with a two-out rally in the third inning.
Cavan Biggio lit the fire with a leadoff walk. After Nick Ahmed and Ohtani struck out, Teoscar Hernandez dropped a bloop double into no-man’s land beyond first base. Gavin Lux stroked an opposite-field single to score them both.
Flaherty’s stroll through the A’s lineup ended in the sixth inning when he and Biggio failed to hook up on a play at first base. A bloop single and a walk followed the error by Biggio and loaded the bases with no outs.
Flaherty went to work. He got Shea Langeliers to chop a ground ball to Kike’ Hernandez at third base. Hernandez threw home for the force out. Flaherty struck out Seth Brown for the second out then got Abraham Toro on a grounder to shortstop to end the threat.
“You just slow it down,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said of escaping the jam. “You slow down, work through it. Go back to executing pitches. That’s what he did.
“You learn what they’re made of pretty quick. Throw them in the fire, big situation, we’re up 2-0 but they were threatening. He was able to get out of it.”
Flaherty’s 99th pitch of the game put the finishing touches on his debut. He allowed five hits and walked one while striking out seven.
“He’s got a good heartbeat. You can see that.” Roberts said. “I just think that for me, you’ve got to have a horse that you feel that can handle a couple innings of stress and still manage to find his way out of it and keep going.”
The Dodgers held on to that 2-0 lead into the eighth inning then doubled it when Jason Heyward walked and scored from first on Kike’ Hernandez’s double into the left-field corner. Andy Pages drove Hernandez in with a single.
They put it away with a six-run burst, sending 10 batters to the plate in the ninth inning. Everyone in the starting lineup except Biggio had at least one hit in the game. Seven different players drove in runs.
“We probably haven’t had an inning like that in awhile so that was fun, good to do,” Smith said of the finish.
