As sad as it sounds, Tigers fans can't handle a Jack Flaherty silver lining right now

Four innings through Jack Flaherty's start against the Angels on Thursday, Tigers fans were forced to tempt fate and ask: Could we really be seeing a good outing from Jack Flaherty?

He had only given up two hits — a double to Mike Trout in the first and a single to Donovan Walton in the fourth — and zero walks, which was the real oddity. He was locating his stuff well and getting a healthy amount of swing-and-miss, striking out five.

The Angels hit him around in the fifth, scoring three runs their third time through the order, but all things considered, it wasn't a poor showing. His final line — 5 2/3 innings, six hits, three earned runs, one walk (intentional), and nine strikeouts — was actually pretty outstanding by the very low bar he's set for himself this season.

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic pointed out that Flaherty has 20 strikeouts and only one walk (the intentional one on Thursday) over his last three starts.

That's nice, we guess, but it means very little to Tigers fans at this point if the offense is completely incapable of making up a two-run deficit and the bullpen can't maintain the status quo to give the offense a fighting chance.

Jack Flaherty's subtle improvements mean less than zero to Tigers fans right now

The only two Tigers who could get hits off of Grayson Rodriguez and the Angels' pitching staff were Riley Greene, who picked up a single, and Wenceel Pérez, who homered and doubled. They walked plenty, but ultimately left eight men on base and were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Even Kevin McGonigle, one of the Tigers' lone shining lights, couldn't get on base in four plate appearances.

And then Ricky Vanasco sent the game closer to blowout territory, giving up four more runs in two innings. If the Tigers can't make up a two-run lead right now, six might simply never happen.

Strong starts from the rotation mean nothing without run support, which the Tigers are completely incapable of providing right now. Of course, it's good that Flaherty outings haven't looked entirely like guaranteed losses just by virtue of Flaherty being Flaherty ... but all games are looking like guaranteed losses just by virtue of the Tigers being the Tigers.

Right now, Detroit is completely incapable of doing more than one thing right at the same time. As much as we'd like to be happy for Flaherty, it doesn't mean much when the outcome is the same.

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