LAKELAND, FL – The Detroit Tigers won against the Philadelphia Phillies, 16-8, on Friday, Feb. 27, at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, securing their first victory in spring training.
Detroit is 1-5 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Right-hander Jack Flaherty is a fierce competitor against everyone when he steps on the mound.
That includes little-known minor leaguers.
In the second inning, Dylan Campbell – a 23-year-old outfielder for the Phillies who hasn’t played above the Double-A level – called upon the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system to contest a called third strike from home-plate umpire Adam Beck.
It was an obvious strike from Flaherty’s fastball, but Campbell challenged anyway. As the replay review confirmed the call on the scoreboard for an inning-ending strikeout, Flaherty yelled in Campbell’s direction while walking back to the dugout.
“Get your eyes checked,” Flaherty told him.
Campbell didn’t respond.
“He must’ve saw something that the rest of us didn’t,” Flaherty said. “It was a stone-cold strike. It’s an opportunity to eff around a little bit. I would have said the same thing if it was one of our guys. There’s no difference. I would’ve made fun of our own guys even more.”
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The ABS challenge system is coming to MLB in the 2026 season, allowing pitchers, catchers and hitters to appeal calls on balls and strikes from the home-plate umpire. Every team gets two challenges per game to overturn calls, with successful challenges retained. Only pitchers, catchers and batters are allowed to challenge calls, not managers or anyone in the dugout.
Starting off
When Flaherty wasn’t yelling, he was racking up strikeouts against a flurry of minor leaguers from the Phillies. Of their starting lineup Friday, only center fielder Johan Rojas, catcher Rafael Marchán and third baseman Alec Bohm are projected to make the Opening Day roster.
Flaherty allowed one run on one hit and one walk with four strikeouts across two innings, throwing 16 of 29 pitches for strikes.
It was his second start of spring training.
In the first inning, Flaherty struck out two of the three big leaguers: Rojas struck out swinging on a down-and-away curveball, then Bohm struck out looking on a middle-away fastball.
The fastball that froze Bohm for the strikeout registered 95.8 mph on the radar gun, marking Flaherty’s fastest fastball.
In the second inning, Flaherty walked Dylan Moore on four pitches, then threw the ball away from first baseman Spencer Torkelson on a pickoff attempt for a throwing error.
After that, Pedro León ripped Flaherty’s curveball for an RBI double for a 1-0 Phillies lead.
For his 29 pitches, Flaherty threw 12 fastballs, nine sliders, five curveballs, two changeups and one sinker, while he generated two whiffs on 10 swings with one slider and one curveball.
His fastball averaged 93.2 mph.
At the plate
The Phillies used eight pitchers.
None of them are expected to make their Opening Day roster.
The Tigers took advantage of the mismatch with 15 runs on 17 hits and five walks, highlighted by 11 runs in the sixth inning.
Dillon Dingler and Javier Báez sparked the Tigers for a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, with Dingler delivering an RBI double and Javier Báez providing a two-run home run. Both players attacked sliders from right-handed reliever Alan Rangel.
The Tigers extended their lead to 4-2 in the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles from Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter off right-handed reliever Nolan Hoffman.
The real fun occurred in the sixth inning.
That’s because the Tigers scored 11 runs, with top prospect Kevin McGonigle collecting two hits in the inning.
For the first hit, McGonigle pulled an 87.3 mph middle-middle cutter from right-handed reliever Yoniel Curet into the right-field corner for a leadoff double. For the second hit, he ripped an elevated 96.1 mph fastball from right-handed reliever Andrew Baker into right field for an RBI single.
The double registered a 107.7 mph exit velocity, while the single had a 108.3 mph exit velocity.
In five spring games, McGonigle is hitting .364 (4-for-11) with one walk and three strikeouts across 12 plate appearances. The 21-year-old hasn’t played above Double-A Erie, but he remains in the mix to make the 2026 Opening Day roster.
On the mound
After Flaherty, the Tigers unloaded a slew of pitchers destined for the minor leagues.
Right-handed reliever Ricky Vanasco allowed one unearned run in the third inning, followed by two earned runs from left-hander Bryan Sammons in the sixth inning, two earned runs from right-handed reliever Dylan File in the seventh inning and two earned runs from left-hander Lael Lockhart.
Sammons walked Bohm on six pitches, then gave up a double to Moore to put two runners in scoring position for Christian Cairo, who cashed in with a two-run single off Sammons’ 89.9 mph fastball to tie the game, 4-4.
Sammons allowed two runs on two hits and one walk with zero strikeouts across two innings, throwing 22 of 36 pitches for strikes. His fastball averaged 90.8 mph.
Three stars
1. Báez, 2. McGonigle, 3. Flaherty.
Next up
Saturday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jack Flaherty jokes, Javier Báez homers in Tigers’ 16-8 win vs Phillies
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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