Detroit Tigers Jack Flaherty agree to terms with the Philadelphia Phillies.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1, on Wednesday at BayCare Ballpark.

The Tigers are 11-8-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Phillies leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber, who slugged 93 home runs over the past two seasons, was scratched from the starting lineup with right groin tightness.

Still, Jack Flaherty faced a tough task.

Flaherty, a star of the past whom the Tigers signed to a one-year, $14 million contract in the offseason in hopes of fixing, had to face a lethal lineup, anchored by Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos, J.T. Realmuto, Brandon Marsh, Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm.

“I think he has plenty of confidence,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “I think he knows his best stuff is really good at this level. He’s pitched Opening Day before. He’s been a frontline guy. I don’t think he needs any kind of boost like that. I think he wanted to make sure he could replicate what he’s been working on, especially the arm-side fastball.”

Flaherty dominated the first-rate lineup of All-Star hitters, completing four scoreless innings with zero walks and five strikeouts. The lone hit was a line-drive single from Harper in the first inning, which happened in part because Flaherty was forced to throw a third-pitch fastball for a strike after falling behind 2-0 in the count.

Aside from that, Flaherty was perfect against the Phillies across four innings. He generated 11 whiffs (on 26 swings) with three fastballs, five sliders, two curveballs and one changeup.

“I got to do a better job with the first hitter of the game,” Flaherty said, “but once that was out of the way, I felt like I did a really good job executing pitches.”