SPRINGFIELD, Mo. • Springfield starter Jack Flaherty did more than just deliver four scoreless innings of exhibition baseball against his major league counterparts in the Cardinals’ 5-2 win Friday night at Hammons Field.
The Class AA righthander survived the Cardinals’ top three.
Twice.
Flaherty managed to sit down Dexter Fowler with a harmless fly before stranding Aledmys Diaz (walk) and Matt Carpenter (single) with back-to-back fly outs.
Then in the third, he bounced back from a Fowler single by retiring Diaz, Carpenter and the cleanup hitter once again.
The Cardinals are hoping Flaherty’s accomplishment Friday looks more impressive at the end of the season than it did two days before the start.