Jack Flaherty’s continued struggles for Tigers can be explained by these two stats

The Detroit Tigers scored eight runs in Sunday's series finale against the Kansas City Royals, but it still wasn't enough to overcome another rocky pitching performance from Jack Flaherty.

Flaherty got lit up for eight earned runs on 10 hits through five innings in what would end up being a 10-8 Tigers loss. Flaherty's August has been plagued with inconsistencies; he gave up one earned run or fewer in two of his starts, but he was hit hard for a combined 18 earned runs in the other three.

With Sunday's outing in the books, Flaherty now holds a 4.87 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with a 7-13 record in 26 starts this season. His ERA has ballooned up to 6.33 in the month of August, and his next scheduled start is this weekend ... against the Royals. KC is battling for a playoff spot and probably salivating at this upcoming matchup.

Jack Flaherty’s continued struggles for Tigers can be explained by these two stats

Christian Romo of the Detroit Free Press did some digging in an attempt to determine the source of Flaherty's latest woes and came to the conclusion that the combination two things – his high fly-ball rate and his high hard-hit percentage – were the primary culprit.

According to Statcast, Flaherty is in the 25th percentile among all MLB pitchers this season in hard-hit percentage (43.8%). Combined with his near 45% fly ball rate, that's a recipe for disaster. After all, a home run is essentially a hard-hit fly ball, so it's no wonder Flaherty has been getting lit up in a home-run heavy league. He's playing into the strengths of most contenders — a bad sign for his potential usage in the postseason.

Flaherty has given up 21 homers this season, the most by a Tigers pitcher. It's not necessarily a new issue, as he gave up 24 homers in the 2024 regular season split between the Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers to place him among the bottom 20 MLB pitchers.

To his credit, Flaherty has given up just two homers through five starts in August – down from six in May, five in June and three in July – but he is going to need to start missing more bats (or at least allowing fewer balls in the air) in order to get back on a reliable track for the Tigers.

More Tigers content from Motor City Bengals