Jack Flaherty has NSFW response to latest blowup that Tigers fans can relate to

Jack Flaherty had it all figured out through the first four innings of his Tuesday start against the White Sox. He only need 52 pitches to get through all of them scoreless while allowing just two singles and a walk. The Tigers' offense, meanwhile, was holding a tenuous 1-0 lead for him.

And then Flaherty lost all of his stuff in the top of the fifth. He gave up three consecutive singles to let the White Sox tie the game, and then they poured on three more runs with three more singles. He was pulled and replaced by Brant Hurter after inducing just one out, but was tagged with the responsibility for a fifth run when Hurter walked in another.

It was yet another example of how Flaherty seesaws between almost spotless appearances to total malfunctions. He gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Twins his last time out, but before that, he pitched two back-to-back, six-inning outings and only gave up one run.

"It's kind of frickin' hard at this point to chalk s— up to bad luck," Flaherty said after Tuesday's game. "I mean, call it what you want. You execute pitches and balls fall in, you can say s— is bad luck, but it's just frustrating at this point."

Jack Flaherty airs frustrations after his latest Tigers loss vs. White Sox

The Tigers aren't in the same dire straits as they were right before and immediately following the All-Star break. Since their win over the Blue Jays on July 27 to stave off a sweep, they've won nine out of their last 15 games and put two series wins in the books. However, their loss on Wednesday and the Guardians' win shrunk Detroit's division lead down even further to 5.5 games.

Flaherty is nowhere near bad enough to push him to the bullpen or dump him altogether, especially when he keeps going for two- or three-game stretches when he looks like he's figured it all out again.

There was a little bit of bad luck in Tuesday's appearance, including some missed defensive opportunities behind him, but his volatility makes it hard to diagnose exactly what goes wrong with him when he's really wrong.

All told, though, Flaherty doesn't look like the kind of pitcher that the Tigers would want as their No. 3 or even No. 4 starter in the postseason. Even if they seem destined to overpay him next season, they don't have to make any promises that he'll be a key player — or a player at all — in October.