Jack Flaherty brought something extra to embarrass his former team

Hell hath no fury like a Jack Flaherty scorned, or at least that's what the evidence compiled on Tuesday afternoon would suggest for the Detroit Tigers starting pitcher.

Flaherty, who was a longtime staple for the St. Louis Cardinals rotation, was traded to the Baltimore Orioles at the deadline last year as the Redbirds sold off pending free agents amid an abysmal campaign. In free agency, while a return to the Cardinals was on the table, Flaherty instead opted to sign with the Tigers for various reasons. And on Tuesday in the first game of a split doubleheader, he faced off against his former team, the Cardinals.

Suffice it to say, he had something extra in the tank for his former team with the performance he put on at Comerica Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Jack Flaherty sent message to Cardinals in rematch with former team

Flaherty began his outing against St. Louis with a impeccable start, striking out the first seven Cardinals hitters he faced. Furthermore, he was seemingly rearing back just a bit farther than normal as his fastball velocity was up almost a full 3.0 mph over the first six batters he faced in that stretch.

Even though Flaherty saw his strikeout streak end with a Masyn Winn groundout, his dominance against his former team didn't remotely subside. In keeping with the increased velocity, he threw a 97.8 mph fastball, the fastest pitch he's thrown in nearly five years.

And all of the extra sauce he had behind his pitches on Tuesday yielded incredible results. Flaherty exited the game nursing a 1-0 Tigers lead after 6.2 innings, finishing his day allowing just two hits, one walk and no runs while striking out a career-high 14. Moreover, he was embarrassing the Cardinals hitters as well, racking up 24 swings and misses in the outing, tied for the ninth most in any single game since 2008.

Unfortunately, Shelby Miller conceded the lead in the top of the ninth inning, rendering a no-decision for Flaherty.

It's clear from this performance, the increase in velo, and his general demeanor on the mound that this was a date Flaherty had circled on the calendar and he lived up to it. At the same time, it's hard to say fully that the Cardinals would feel like they missed out on a reunion as this performance has been a bit of an outlier in Flaherty's first season in Detroit. He had a 4.91 ERA entering this start, though the stellar outing lowered that to 4.00.

Even still, this was a huge moment for Flaherty to exact some sort of revenge on the Cardinals, which he capitalized on. Despite the overall numbers this year not being all that impressive, though, that performance alone has to have fans and perhaps front office members in St. Louis wondering if they made an error.