The Detroit Tigers placed right-hander Jack Flaherty on the 15-day injured list on Saturday because of a strain of the peroneal tendons along the outside of his left ankle and foot.

The Tigers lost the starting pitcher’s services just as ace Tarik Skubal, who had left elbow surgery, was activated from the 15-day IL and made his first start since April 29 in a 3-1 loss to host Cleveland Guardians.

Flaherty, 30, last pitched on Friday, allowing two runs on three hits in three innings against the Guardians before exiting because of the left leg injury.

He had fallen on the mound while facing Chase DeLauter in the first inning — Flaherty’s left cleat appearing to slip on his follow-through.

“Kind of tightened up between the first and second,” Flaherty said Saturday. “Didn’t feel great. When I went over to cover first, it tightened up on me even more. … I wasn’t finishing the same way after the first. My mechanics weren’t the same. There was a lot of discomfort.”

Flaherty changed his cleats for the third inning, when he lunged for a comebacker to retire Kyle Manzardo for the final out of the inning as Detroit went on to lose 3-2.

“He slipped on the mound. We all saw that,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “And then he was able to recover and tolerate it. He talked a little bit about it in the second inning, and then the (comebacker in the third) really irritated him. We’re going to get tests and get him worked up and looked at and all that.”

Flaherty is 1-8 this season, tied for the major league lead with eight defeats and 15 starts. He has a 5.35 ERA with 34 walks and 78 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings.

For his career, Flaherty is 64-64 with a 3.89 ERA, 385 walks and 1,208 strikeouts in 1,056 1/3 innings in 205 regular-season games (199 starts) for the St. Louis Cardinals (2017-23), Baltimore Orioles (2023), Los Angeles Dodgers (2024) and Detroit Tigers (2024, 2025-present). He is also 2-6 with a 5.05 ERA in 13 playoff games (11 starts).

In other moves on Saturday, the Tigers optioned right-hander Ty Madden to Triple-A Toledo and recalled infielder Hao-Yu Lee from Toledo.

Madden, 26, was 0-0 with a 3.15 ERA, five walks and 23 strikeouts in 20 innings over seven games (one start) this season for Detroit.

Lee, 23, is batting .212 (18-for-85) with two home runs and nine RBIs in 33 games this season with the Tigers.

Starting right-handed pitcher Casey Mize (adductor) is expected to come off the 15-day IL and start Sunday against Cleveland, Hinch said on Friday.

–Field Level Media

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit the first pitch of the game for a home run, Ben Brown beefed up his All-Star credentials with five solid innings and the visiting Chicago Cubs thumped the San Francisco Giants 6-1 on Saturday night for a second straight win in their three-game series.

Rookie Pedro Ramirez smacked his first career homer and Ian Happ added a third for the Cubs, who followed up a 5-1 win in the series opener with another front-running effort.

Crow-Armstrong also had a double and a single on a night that began when he took a Trevor McDonald slider over the fence in left-center field for his 12th homer of the season.

Crow-Armstrong’s double triggered a two-run third. He scored the inning’s first run on a Seiya Suzuki single. Michael Busch later made it 3-0 when he stole home on the front end of a double steal with Happ.

McDonald (2-4) was pulled with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth. Busch then drew a walk from Reiver Sanmartin to increase the lead to 4-0.

McDonald was charged with four runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked three and struck out four.

The homers by Happ, his 16th of the season, and Ramirez, in the 29th plate appearance of his first campaign, completed Chicago’s scoring in the fifth.

Brown (3-2), meanwhile, pitched into and out of trouble for 15 outs, limiting the Giants to one run despite serving up seven hits and three walks. He struck out three.

The right-hander has now allowed one or fewer runs in six of his seven starts. He left the game with the same ERA with which he started it, 1.74.

San Francisco’s only run came in the third when Drew Gilbert walked and came around on a Luis Arraez triple.

The Giants went 0-for-7 in the game with runners in scoring position, all while Brown was on the mound.

Ramirez added a double to his homer for the Cubs, who collected four doubles and three homers among their 11 hits.

Rafael Devers had a double and a single while Gilbert walked three times for the Giants, who dropped to 1-4 on their six-game homestand.

–Field Level Media

Nestory Irankunda and Conner Metcalfe scored goals and Patrick Beach excelled in goal in a surprise start as Australia notched a 2-0 victory over Turkey in Group D play on Saturday night at Vancouver.

Irankunda scored in the 27th minute and Metcalfe tacked on in the 75th minute as the Socceroos, who rose four spots to 23rd in the FIFA/Coca Cola rankings with the victory, turned in a stellar performance in their World Cup opener.

Beach, 22, made eight saves in his World Cup debut and just his third cap for the Australian national team.

Beach was chosen to start over Mathew Ryan, Australia’s starting goalkeeper in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Ryan, 34, has 104 caps with the national team.

Turkey, which entered the match above Australia in the rankings but fell five spots to 27th, controlled possession for 72% of the match and had a 30-9 edge in shots, including an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal.

Ugurcan Cakir made two saves for Turkey.

The first Australian goal was set up by midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler, another player just promoted to starter.

Okon-Engstler received the ball back in his own end and spotted Irankunda ready to make a run. He delivered a stellar long pass and Irankunda was able to get the ball despite three Turkish players around him.

Irankunda found a sliver of space and sent a right-footed grounder into the left corner of the net.

Three minutes later, Turkey had a major opportunity. Abdulkerim Bardakci took a blistering left-footed shot from beyond the box and Beach was able to get his fingers on the ball and it caromed off the left goal post.

Turkey also had a stellar opportunity in the 57th minute when Arda Guler lined up to take a direct kick. His left-footed blast was sailing toward the bottom-left corner of the net but Beach dove down to his right to knock it away.

Australia made it 2-0 after Turkey’s Ismail Yuksek misplayed the ball in the midfield. It went directly toward Metcalfe, who dribbled in and ripped a left-footed shot into the bottom-right corner.

Beach also made a diving punchaway save on Hakan Calhanoglu’s right-footed free kick in the 85th minute.

Australia faces the United States – the other 1-0-0 Group D team – on Friday in Seattle. Turkey and Paraguay (also 0-1-0) meet Friday in Santa Clara, Calif.

–Field Level Media