Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Jack Flaherty praised the energy at Camden Yards after his latest start. Of course, some St. Louis Cardinals fans screamed to look at the attendance numbers.
The St. Louis Cardinals traded away some of their big impending free agents to bring in prospects and young players to help them contend in 2024. One of the players they traded was starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, who ended up with the Baltimore Orioles. Through two starts with the Orioles, Flaherty has pitched well, striking out 16 batters total in 11 innings.
After pitching in his first game at Camden Yards as a member of the Orioles, Flaherty praised the energy from fans at the ballpark, even saying that he had to turn up the volume on his Pitch-com, something he said he hasn't done in a while.
For those curious, here are the comments from Flaherty, which come at the 45-second mark.
Of course, that had Cardinals fans on social media talking, specifically about attendance numbers.
Jack Flaherty's comments about 'energy' at Camden Yards have Cardinals fans taken aback
When it comes to attendance, Busch Stadium has averaged 41,013 fans, which ranks as the third-most in baseball, per ESPN. As for Camden Yards, they have averaged 23,060 fans, which ranks 22nd in baseball.
This didn't seem like a shot toward the Cardinals. Rather, Flaherty was crediting Orioles fans after his first career start as a member of the home team at Camden Yards. Not to mention, the Orioles are sitting in prime postseason contention while the Cardinals are, well, not. If a team is in postseason contention, there is going to be more energy at the ballpark than at the stadium of a team that won't make the playoffs and chose to sell at the trade deadline.
On Wednesday night, Flaherty pitched five innings, where he struck out eight batters and allowed three earned runs on six hits in the 8-2 loss to the Houston Astros.
Baltimore held a two-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East after Wednesday night. As for St. Louis, they sit in last place in the NL Central with a 50-65 record 11.5 games back of first place, and 9.5 games back for the final NL Wild Card spot.
After his first start at home, Flaherty gave credit to the fans in attendance, as he liked the energy they gave him.