Heated exchange between Torey Lovullo, Jack Flaherty was sparked by dirt

The Detroit Tigers mounted an impressive comeback victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday evening. Arizona took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the tides turned in Detroit's favor in the top of the seventh. The Tigers put up six runs in the frame, knocking Zac Gallen out of the game and punishing his replacement, Joe Mantiply.

As the TV cameras panned over to the Tigers' dugout to catch the celebration, fans' attention was drawn to something else — a visibly upset Jack Flaherty, hurling words in the direction of Arizona's dugout. On the other end, D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo shouted back. There was a clear disagreement over... something.

In the moment, fans weren't exactly sure what the issue was. Now, we have some clarity. As MassLive's Evan Woodberry lays out, Flaherty was grooming the mound with his cleats. Then, during the innings change, D'Backs starter Zac Gallen would bring out the grounds crew to repair the dirt around the rubber. That back-and-forth isn't necessarily uncommon, but it hardly ever occurs between every inning.

Clearly Lovullo and the Diamondbacks had enough. The manager was candid with reporters after the game, citing multiple, repeating issues with Detroit's behavior.

"You saw what happened. I thought there were some things that were coming out of their side that were really rubbing us the wrong way at a certain point. Trust me, what happened there, what you guys saw wasn’t the first thing that happened. I can hold serve on one thing, but we felt like there was more than just that situation that popped up and I’d had enough."

Flaherty played the role of the instigated, rather than the instigator. He was slightly more measured in his appraisal of the situation than Lovullo, saying he "didn't have any issues" with Gallen's constant reshaping of the mound.

"That’s for them. I didn’t have any issues with it. I know what was going on because I know Zac. But they let him continue to fix it every inning. I don’t know, man. I haven’t had another pitcher go against me that has had to get the mound fixed like that. But it is what it is. You just keep pitching. He went out and pitched really well tonight."

It sounds like Arizona was upset with Flaherty, not the other way around.

Tigers-Diamondbacks shouting match rooted in Jack Flaherty, Zac Gallen mound preferences

I guess Flaherty was digging his cleats in too far? It's hard to really get on board with Lovullo's gripes here. Obviously Gallen felt a particular need to even out the mound and raise the platform a bit, but Flaherty is entitled to the same luxury. If Gallen is willing to drag the grounds crew out every inning, then Flaherty can dig his toes in. That's life.

Detroit's seventh-inning rally netted Flaherty the win. He's now 1-3 in nine starts for the Tigers, posting a 3.79 ERA and 1.061 WHIP. He leads the American League with 72 strikeouts in 54.2 innings pitched, an impressive accomplishment for a pitcher who was largely dismissed after a rocky end to last season with the Orioles.

The Tigers are actually look competitive for the first time in years, currently 23-22 with a real path to Wild Card contention. Heck, the first-place Guardians are only 5.5 games ahead in the AL Central. Anything is possible, especially with how well Detroit is pitching with Flaherty and Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal leading the way.

Flaherty out-dueled one of baseball's best pitchers in Gallen on Saturday, allowing five hits and two earned runs in six innings, with nine strikeouts. He seems to be winning this little argument, too.