Just a week ago it seemed like a reason, otherwise THE reason, the Dodgers I couldn’t win the World Series.
On Sunday night, he became a reason why they could.
In a 9-0 victory against the New York Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, Jack Flaherty delivered the kind of performance that will immortalize him in these parts if his team marches down Sunset Boulevard early next month.
Flaherty was Sandy Koufax.
Flaherty was Fernando Valenzuela.
Flaherty was Orel Hershiser.
In seven shutout innings, he limited the Mets to two hits, successive singles from Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias in the fifth inning.
Learn more: Plaschke: 33 scoreless innings! Dodgers pitchers focus on history in Game 1 win
The number of innings Flaherty pitched was as important as the number of runs he allowed, because they spared manager Dave Roberts from deploying a high-leverage reliever outside of Daniel Hudson.
The result: The Dodgers will be able to host a bullpen game in Game 2 on Monday.
A similar pitch plan produced a San Diego Padres shutout in the previous round. When the Dodgers travel to New York for the middle three games of this best-of-seven series, they could very well do so with a two-games-to-none lead.
“For us to get seven innings in a long series was huge,” Roberts said.
The performance was also personally meaningful for Flaherty, who was born and raised in the Los Angeles area.
Flaherty was six months old when he attended his first game at Dodger Stadium. Throughout his childhood, he attended 20 games per season. In this very stadium, he started Harvard-Westlake High to a CIF Southern Section Division I championship.
THE Dodgers acquire him from Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline marked a full circle for him. The Mets’ save Sunday night was something he said “you can’t really put into words.”
“I saw some of my family there during my warmup and I’ve been to games here with them before,” Flaherty said. “So it kind of lets you relax a little bit.”
Seven days after being beaten for four runs in 5 ⅓ innings in his first playoff game for the Dodgers, Flaherty turned in one of the best starts of his eight-year career. He struck out six. He only walked two.
“It was a pitching clinic,” Roberts said. “Once we got the lead, he did a great job of getting after guys and attacking.”
When Flaherty returned to the bench midway through the seventh inning, he was hit in the back by Shohei Ohtani. He was hugged by Roberts.
“Really, Jack did a wonderful job,” Ohtani said.
Flaherty had a pinch-me moment later when Clayton Kershaw wrapped his arms around him.
Flaherty grew up admiring Kershaw, so much so that when he thinks of the Dodgers’ postseason pitching tradition, he doesn’t think of Koufax, Valenzuela or Hershiser.
“The answer is there’s only one: It’s Kersh,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty continued: “No matter what people want to say about his playoff numbers, he had a lot of good ones. He has been an absolute stud throughout his career.
“I think about all those starts he’s had where he’s been phenomenal taking the ball on three days’ rest and coming out and going six, seven innings no matter what. This guy is second to none.
Flaherty’s point: The last Dodgers pitcher who had a longer scoreless start in the postseason was Kershaw, who blanked the Milwaukee Brewers in eight innings in the wild-card round in 2020. The Dodgers won the World Series that year.
“Getting a hug from him afterward and him letting me know it was a really good job is special and it’s something you don’t get to do,” Flaherty said.
Just like the hug he received after the match from his mother, Eileen.
“It’s hard not to smile about these things,” Flaherty said.
Suddenly, the Dodgers’ rotation no longer seems combustible — or “atrocious,” as I wrote in a column last week. Suddenly, the Dodgers have a pitching staff that hasn’t allowed a run in its final 33 innings, tying a postseason record set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1966. Suddenly, between Flaherty and the NLDS hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers look like they might have the starting pitching needed to win not only in this round but also in the World Series.
Flaherty lived a dream Sunday night. The Dodgers and their fans have grown closer to theirs.
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This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
