St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty took the mound for the first time since May 31st, firing six innings of two-hit shutout baseball on Friday night, as St. Louis beat the cross-state rival Kansas City Royals, 6-0 at Kauffman Stadium.
Flaherty had a potential Cy Young season snuffed out momentarily by an oblique injury in late May, after winning 8 of his first 9 decisions of the season. On Friday night, he returned with five strikeouts and no walks. T.J. McFarland pitched two scoreless innings, with Giovanny Gallegos working the ninth.
Nolan Arenado and Tyler O’Neill hit back-to-back homers in the 4th inning for St. Louis, with Lars Nootbaar also connecting.
For Kansas City, southpaw Mike Minor took the loss in falling to 8-11, allowing three hits and six hits over six innings of work. He was generally solid, striking out seven Cardinals and walking only one batter.
St. Louis activated Flaherty from the 60 day injured list earlier on Friday, putting left-hander Wade LeBlanc, who suffered an injured elbow on Thursday in Pittsburgh, onto the 10 day IL.
Here is the MLB Scoreboard from Friday, August 13, 2021:
Boston 8, Baltimore 1
Cleveland 7, Detroit 4
Texas 8, Oakland 6
Tampa Bay 10, Minnesota 4
Houston 4, LA Angels 1
Seattle 3, Toronto 2
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh – POSTPONED BY RAIN
Atlanta 4, Washington 2
Cincinnati 6, Philadelphia 1
LA Dodgers 6, NY Mets 5 (10)
Miami 14, Chicago Cubs 10
Arizona 3, San Diego 2
San Francisco 5, Colorado 4
