Watch: Tigers' Jack Flaherty ties AL record by striking out first seven batters

His slider was effective out of the gate, getting both left fielder Brendan Donovan and catcher Willson Contreras to strike out swinging on pitches out of the zone during the Cardinals' first two at-bats. 

Flaherty blew past right fielder Lars Nootbaar with a 97-mile-per-hour four-seamer toward the inside of the plate for his third strikeout. 

For his seventh K, he fooled second baseman Nolan Gorman with an 80-mile-per-hour knuckle curve.

Flaherty clearly had extra juice for his former team. Per Baseball Savant, his average velocity on all five of his pitches — fastball, slider, knuckle curve, sinker and changeup — was higher than his season average.

Flaherty spent his first six full seasons in St. Louis and was traded to the Orioles at last year's trade deadline. He signed a one-year, $14 million contract with the Tigers in December.

He finished Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader with a career-high 14 strikeouts in only 6.2 innings pitched. Despite his excellent effort, the Cardinals got the last laugh, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning and winning 2-1.