Jack Flaherty delivers strong debut the Dodgers desperately needed in win at Oakland

Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty delivers to an Athletics batter during the first inning Saturday in Oakland. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

There was no primal scream, no exaggerated fist pump, and very little outward emotion from the Dodgers’ newest pitcher.

Instead, in the defining moment of an auspicious team debut for Jack Flaherty on Saturday night at the Oakland Coliseum, the veteran pitcher simply tapped his glove, chewed on some gum and returned to his new team’s dugout with a confident nod of his head.

Read more: L.A. native Jack Flaherty excited by ‘special’ Dodgers opportunity, downplays back concerns

“I saw poise,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I liked that controlled emotion.”

Indeed, Flaherty provided the Dodgers with much-needed poise and control Saturday night, pitching six shutout innings in the team’s 10-0 win over the Oakland Athletics.

“I’ll take the time tonight and kind of soak it all in,” said Flaherty, whom the Dodgers acquired in a blockbuster deadline-day trade with the Detroit Tigers last Tuesday. “I’m just excited to be here and have a chance to help this team.”

The Dodgers needed it, riding Flaherty’s big start early on — before pulling away with an eight-run explosion late — to only their third win in their last nine games.

In the process, Flaherty racked up seven strikeouts and 16 swings and misses, flashing the kind of premium stuff the Dodgers hope will bolster a starting rotation battling injuries and searching for frontline pitching.

Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty on the mound in the first inning against Oakland on Saturday. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Most of all, with the Dodgers only up 2-0 in a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the bottom of the sixth, the club put its trust in its newly-acquired 28-year-old pitcher.

Then, it watched him embrace the pressure with ease.

During a nine-pitch sequence, the right-hander induced a fielder’s choice grounder, a swing-and-miss strikeout and an inning-ending two-hopper back up the middle — giving the Dodgers both a tantalizing sample of his resurgent 2024 season, in which he is now 8-5 with a 2.80 ERA, and a much-needed, high-leverage, skid-snapping sigh of relief.

“It felt really good, Doc giving me the trust there in the sixth to find a way to get out of it,” Flaherty said.

“You learn what they’re made of pretty quick,” added catcher Will Smith. “Throw him in the fire, big situation, we’re up 2-0, but they were threatening. And he was able to get out of it.”

When the Dodgers landed Flaherty as the centerpiece of their trade deadline haul on Tuesday — acquiring what many believed was the best pitcher to be dealt on this year’s trade market — they immediately saddled the veteran right-hander with weighty late-season expectations.

The Dodgers needed Flaherty to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher and solidify a rotation unsettled by key absences (including Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler) and recent underperformances (epitomized by clunkers from Clayton Kershaw and Gavin Stone earlier this week).

They were counting on him to be an October weapon, the kind they’d lacked too often in recent postseason failures.

And, right from the jump, they also needed a strong team debut out of the Harvard-Westlake product, hopeful Flaherty could halt a recent 2-6 skid that had eaten into Dodgers’ once-comfortable National League West lead.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Jack take the baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday night on the eve of Flaherty’s first Dodgers start, “and be a stopper for us.”

In what was arguably the Dodgers’ best starting pitching performance since last month’s All-Star break, Flaherty proved to be just that — if not a little bit more.

Read more: Plaschke: Jack Flaherty gives Dodgers dramatic trade deadline victory

With a 93-mph fastball and devastating duo of sliders and curveballs, the L.A. native mostly cruised through his first game with his hometown team. He worked around a pair of softly hit singles in the first inning, retiring the side with back-to-back strikeouts. He sat down 12 of 13 hitters between the second and fifth innings, with the lone base hit coming on a line drive that ricocheted off his lower right leg (after a quick check from the trainer, Flaherty stayed in the game).

The sixth-inning jam was hardly his fault, either, with Cavan Biggio committing a throwing error and JJ Bleday dropping a bloop single into left field before a Brent Rooker walk loaded the bags with no outs.

At that point, Flaherty had thrown 90 pitches. The Dodgers’ lead was only 2-0. And left-hander Alex Vesia was warming in the bullpen.

Roberts, however, stayed put in the dugout. Three batters later, his faith in Flaherty was rewarded.

“He earned an opportunity to take down a couple more hitters,” the manager said.

Three batters later, the faith in Flaherty was rewarded.

Saturday included other changes for the Dodgers — and not just because they grew their division lead (from four to 4½ games) for the first time in almost a week.

Athletics second baseman Darell Hernaiz (2) is unable to catch a throw from catcher Shea Langeliers as Dodger Shohei Ohtani (17) steals second during the ninth inning Saturday in Oakland. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Roberts mixed up his lineup pregame, flipping slumping Will Smith and steady Teoscar Hernández in the Nos. 2 and 4 spots of the batting order. The Dodgers’ shorthanded offense capitalized on several opportunities as well, getting a two-run, two-out single from Gavin Lux in the third inning before tacking on two insurance runs in the eighth and six more in the ninth.

“It just felt like the offense relaxed a little bit and passed the baton,” Roberts said. “I thought there were more team at-bats tonight.”

Shohei Ohtani reached another milestone in his monster season, too, stealing three bases to become the first Dodger with a 30-homer, 30-steal season since Matt Kemp in 2011, and just the third overall (Raul Mondesi did it twice in 1999 and 1997).

Amid all that, though, Flaherty’s dominance was the most encouraging storyline — providing the Dodgers exactly what they needed to end their recent slide, and an example of what they’ll want from their newest, veteran arm the rest of the season.

“For him to go six innings scoreless was a huge lift,” Roberts said. “If we’re expecting him to do what he expects into October, he’s got to be able to manage stress. And he did a fantastic job.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.