The St. Louis Cardinals appear to be getting their groove back, as they have followed up a six-game losing skid with a winning streak that they extended to three games after beating the Washington Nationals in a series opener on the road last Monday, 8-6. That win over the Nationals was a wild ride for the Cards, who also had to lean on the resiliency of starting pitcher Jack Flaherty to secure the victory.

“You’ve got to find ways to ignore what the scoreboard says, something I haven’t really done a good job of in the past,” Jack Flaherty said after that game in which he gave up eight of his 10 hits in the first two frames but still lasted 6.1 innings on the mound (via Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). “But today was kind of the first time I was able to do that. I gave up five in the first two, then put up a bunch of zeros after that and find a way to get into the seventh.”

Flaherty ended up with six earned runs allowed with a walk issued to go with five strikeouts against the Nationals. He was also fortunate to have St. Louis' offense providing enough run support on his way to picking up his first pitching win in over a month.

“You’ve just got to make pitches,” explained Flaherty about his mindset while trying to work his way through early struggles in the Nationals game. “When you do that good things happen. I was one pitch away in the first inning. I gave up one, but then you’re second and third with one out. Get a strikeout, then you’re one pitch away from keeping it 1-0 there in the first. … You just keep making pitches and understanding that the more you execute, the more good things will happen.”

Flaherty has a 4-5 record and a 4.95 ERA along with a 1.60 WHIP thus far in the 2023 MLB regular season.