After spending his first seven years in the major leagues on the East Coast, Jack Flaherty returned home to join the successful Los Angeles Dodgers and made a bit of playoff history.
Flaherty teamed up for a three-hitter, and Dodgers pitchers tied the postseason record for 33 consecutive scoreless innings by defeating the New York Mets 9-0 in the opener of the NL Championship Series on Sunday night.
“I saw some family out there when I was warming up and I had gone to games here with them before, so it just kind of lets you relax a little bit,” he said.
“Felt I tried to do too much the last couple times out in some big games. Just allowed me to be myself and just go out and pitch and trust my stuff and trust the guys behind me.”
The Dodgers knocked out wild pitcher Kodai Senga in the second inning, building a six-run lead by the fourth. They matched the scoreless record set by Baltimore Orioles pitchers during the first four games of the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers.
With fans chanting “MVP! MVP!” Shohei Ohtani went 2 for 4 with a walk, scoring two runs and driving in another.
Mookie Betts contributed with a three-run double in the eighth inning, marking the largest shutout victory in Dodgers postseason history, and it was also the Mets’ most one-sided postseason shutout loss.
“Our energy all started with Jack,” Betts said. “Jack really gave it to us today.” Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Monday afternoon.
Flaherty allowed two hits over seven innings, marking the Dodgers’ first scoreless postseason start of more than seven innings since Clayton Kershaw pitched eight innings in the 2020 NL Wild Card Series.
“It was just a pitching clinic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought he did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix. Once we caught a lead, he did a great job of just going after those guys and attacking. For us to get seven innings in a long series was huge.”
Flaherty left the field to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd of 53,503. The 28-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank came back home from Detroit at the trade deadline on July 30 and has provided a steady presence in a rotation hit hard by injuries.
“He’s got an aura about him,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He’s super competitive, super focused.”
Flaherty received a hug from manager Dave Roberts and then hugged his mother, who was sitting behind home plate. Some of his friends from their Little League days in the San Fernando Valley were also there to support him.
“This game is a lot of fun and I’ve been lucky to do it since I was a little kid,” Flaherty said. “As high pressure as they get, I just tell the guys it’s going to be fun. We’ve got to remember that sometimes.”
Flaherty retired the first nine batters he faced, which extended the Dodgers’ streak of consecutive hitters retired to 28, before walking Francisco Lindor at the start of the fourth inning. The only hits New York got off him were two singles by Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias in the fifth. Flaherty struck out six batters.
“He was getting ahead with his fastball and then the slider, the breaking ball, the slow curve kept us off-balance, but he was getting ahead and making pitches,” rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He tried to make us chase, which we did the first time through the order. Then he was just on.”
Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius each pitched one inning. Lindor was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout, while Pete Alonso went hitless in three at-bats with a walk and a strikeout.
The Dodgers came back from the edge of elimination against San Diego to win the NL Division Series in five games, achieving shutouts in the last two games.
They started their chase for a record 25th NL pennant by pulling Senga after just 1 1/3 innings in his third start of a season marked by injuries. The Japanese right-hander walked four of his first eight batters, including three in a row during a 14-pitch stretch in the first inning.
“He didn’t have it,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t have the life on his fastball and a lot of balls out of hand, non-competitive pitches, especially the split. You could tell that by the way they were taking those pitches—they were balls out of the hand.”
Senga loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, throwing only seven strikes out of 23 pitches. Max Muncy hit a single up the middle, bringing in Betts and a limping Freddie Freeman, who crossed the plate with his left foot to protect his sprained right ankle.
He stumbled into the arms of Betts, who helped steady the much taller Freeman. Ohtani ended Senga’s night with an RBI single in the second, and the Dodgers added three runs in the fourth against reliever David Peterson, with Tommy Edman and Freeman each getting RBI singles.
