Now the decisions begin.
With Class AA Springfield, Flaherty struck out six of the first 10 batters he faced Wednesday night in his fifth and final rehab start in the minors. The Cardinals dropped all limits and expectations from Flaherty’s outing and tasked the right-hander with pitching as deep into a game as his performance demanded. He threw 102 pitches, did not allow a run until the seventh inning and schooled the Wichita Wind Surge with his slider and curveball on the way to nine strikeouts in 6u2154 innings.
The Cardinals have already announced that Flaherty, if he recovers well from the longest outing of this season, will start Monday against Washington.