Flaherty leads ‘pitching clinic’ as Dodgers tie mark

• Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff WriterOct 13, 2024, 11:33 PM ET

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  • Sports reporter, Kansas City Star, 2002-09
  • Writer, Baseball, Baseball Prospectus
  • Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus
  • Member, Baseball Writers Association of America
  • Member, Professional Basketball Writers Association

LOS ANGELES — Perfection was in the air for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. Perfection on the scoreboard, perfection for a hometown player living out a dream and near-perfection for just about everyone throwing a baseball right now for L.A.

In a Game 1 rout replete with history-making zeroes, Jack Flaherty and two relievers combined to shut out the New York Mets 9-0 as the Dodgers seized a series-opening win in the NLCS.

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought [Flaherty] did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix. Used his fastball when he needed to. Just minimized damage.”

With the whitewash, the Dodgers have extended a scoreless innings streak — one that began in Game 3 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres — to 33 innings, matching the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the longest in postseason history.

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The Dodgers also became just the third team to record three straight shutouts in the postseason, joining those Orioles and the 1905 New York Giants.

Flaherty served up the first seven of those goose eggs in Game 1, holding the Mets to two hits over seven innings and striking out six. It was the longest outing by a Dodgers starter in the postseason since Max Scherzer on Oct. 11, 2021. Los Angeles, an October fixture, had 20 games in between those two gems.

With the Dodgers rotation riddled by injuries, this was the kind of outing the team hoped for and badly needed from Flaherty when it acquired him at the trade deadline from the Detroit Tigers.

“He’s got an aura about him,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He’s super competitive, super focused. I see all his preparation he does for the couple days before the start. It’s intense.”

The night was, well, perfect for Flaherty, an L.A.-area native who grew up a Dodgers fan and attended many games at Dodger Stadium with his mother, who was on hand Sunday. Flaherty also pitched a shutout to win a state championship at the ballpark in high school in 2013.

In short, it was the kind of night that a child who grows up as a fan of any team dreams of having. Flaherty not only got to live it out, but he did so with family and friends watching from the stands, including buddies he played with in Little League.

“Man, those are the days, those are the best days we had,” Flaherty said. “I still have my buddies I played with, saw a couple of them there in the stands. Just real cool. Real cool having the support of all of them.”

For Flaherty, the evening ended when he stalked off the mound after finishing off the seventh inning to a rousing ovation from a group of fans — of which he used to be one. Intense as he might be, the journey was not lost on Flaherty.

“Walking off the mound, I usually have been able to keep it together no matter what, even if it’s the end of an outing,” Flaherty said. “Yeah, it’s hard not to smile there.”

With Game 2 on the docket for Monday afternoon after a short turnaround, Roberts confirmed that the Dodgers will go with a bullpen contest, running out a series of relievers in hopes of continuing the scoreless streak and heading back to New York with a 2-0 lead. That made Flaherty’s Game 1 performance, particularly the length, that much more crucial.

“I felt good about that,” Roberts said. “Jack being able to do that opens up a lot of things, and also saves some looks [against Mets hitters] from some of our guys in the pen.”

Another allusion to perfection: For a fleeting moment, it was literally true for a Dodgers staff that is dominating at the most important time of the baseball calendar. When Flaherty allowed his first baserunner — a leadoff walk to New York’s Francisco Lindor in the fourth inning — it snapped a streak of 28 straight batters the L.A. staff had retired, going back to Game 5 against San Diego.

The records are coming so fast for the Dodgers that they aren’t even aware when they are happening. The scoreless inning streak was matched thanks to a ninth tossed by rookie Ben Casparius, who had all of three big league appearances under his belt when the playoffs began.

Casparius had no idea he’d been a part of history until he was told after the game, but he seemed to appreciate the significance.

“It’s amazing,” Casparius said. “Especially being a rookie and a guy who kind of got here super late.”

“He’s got an aura about him,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said of Jack Flaherty. “He’s super competitive, super focused. I see all his preparation he does for the couple days before the start. It’s intense.” Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The perfection extended to the Dodgers’ offense, which rolled up nine runs. And for a team that leans heavily on home runs to turn the scoreboard, L.A. did not hit a ball over the fence Sunday. The Dodgers had just one extra-base hit and even laid down a pair of sacrifice bunts.

For the Mets, who were playing in the 100th postseason game in franchise history, it marked their worst-ever playoff loss.

With the outburst, the Dodgers have now scored 23 straight runs since their pitchers last allowed a run, two shy of the postseason record set by Atlanta in 1996. The team Flaherty just joined but rooted for all his life has gotten on a roll.

“This game is fun,” Flaherty said. “This game is a lot of fun. I’ve been lucky to do it since I was a little kid. I’m still lucky to be able to do it today and be put in these positions.”

One ideal night in Chavez Ravine is in the books for the Dodgers. Yet, it still was only one win, a fact not lost on the Dodgers — or the star of that dream come true.

“We’ve got work to do,” Flaherty said. “It’s Game 1. It’s a really good team over there still. We’ll enjoy tonight but we’ve got a quick turnaround tomorrow.”

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