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DETROIT — Standing in the posh new clubhouse he calls home and pausing only briefly to needle a teammate about a poor practice putt made across the room, Jack Flaherty listed the three things, beyond the contract offer, that he sought when choosing his next team.

“Conversation. Effort. Honesty,� he said.

Those three added up to a fourth he felt from the Detroit Tigers.

“They believed in me the most,� the former Cardinals starter said.

One of the pitchers the Cardinals traded at last year’s deadline and one of the handful of homegrown pitchers the Cardinals moved on from in the past 12 months, Flaherty still is seeking his first win with his new team. He hasn’t had the early, buoyant success of other recent Cardinals such as Tyler O’Neill, who is rocking a 1.176 on-base plus slugging percentage with Boston, or Jordan Hicks and his 1.59 ERA as a starter for San Francisco. He arguably isn’t even the most successful former Cardinal in the Comerica Park’s home clubhouse. That’s Shelby Miller, who has reinvented himself as a reliever and has a 2.03 ERA and a .143 batting average against him in 11 games.

Flaherty (0-1) has a 4.91 ERA in five starts. But beneath the surface of those numbers are three quality starts and 36 strikeouts, nine for every walk. In previous seasons, he’s never thrown his slider this much or averaged a slider this fast.

A deluge of rain and storms forced the postponement of Monday’s series opener between the Cardinals and Tigers, setting up a one-ticket doubleheader Tuesday at Comerica. Kyle Gibson will start Game 1 for the Cardinals, with Monday’s scheduled starter Steven Matz starting the evening half.

Flaherty, a first-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2014, will start Game 1 — and it will be his first time pitching against his first team.

“It’s going against family,� Flaherty said. “Any time you play against family, it goes back to playing high school (ball) when you played against kids you know. Same type of thing. Just a bigger stage. Played against some of my best friends in high school. You get up there, and it’s funny for a couple of seconds and then the second one of them gets a hit off you it’s like, ‘All right, (forget) this.’ Let’s go.�

When the Cardinals traded Flaherty to Baltimore last season, they publicly said they would “keep the door open� for a reunion. They signed three free-agent starters by the end of November and did not seek talks with Flaherty’s representative, per sources. At 28, Flaherty was one of the youngest free-agent starters available and coming off an inconsistent season, with a 4.99 ERA, he entertained a shorter deal to reenter free agency after a strong season.

He agreed to a one-year, $14 million deal with the Tigers after conversation, effort and honesty. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch traveled to meet Flaherty in person. When the right-hander sought to talk with pitching coaches, the Tigers had that call set up within two hours.

Flaherty already had started rethinking his offseason workouts.

The Tigers presented their plan for him.

Shortly after he signed, Flaherty received a text from a former roommate.

Carson Kelly, the third former high Cardinals draft pick in the Tigers clubhouse, lived with Flaherty in Memphis, Tennessee, as their climb through the Cardinals organization intersected. In the text, he asked about the things Flaherty was working on.

One of the replies: get his slider back.

“It’s fun to see a guy when you catch him a long time ago and then come back to catch him again and he’s still the same guy,� Kelly said. “The fire is still there. I’ve seen it from the other side. I’ve been on the same team. I think what he went through last year, some of the ups and downs, I think he’s really figuring out how to make those adjustments between starts, being able to make those adjustments and not compound things.

“I think he’s recaptured some of the things he did a while back.�

Flaherty referred to his final season with the Cardinals as “frustrating� because of the inconsistency he felt game to game, both in his delivery and his results.

He traced some of it to offseason workouts that he adjusted.

“Just movement,� he said. “It’s just better being in sync. You get out of sync and those misses are small but off the plate, and then they get some big ones and you’re not able to repeat and then repeat, repeat, repeat. That was something I wasn’t able to do last year — repeat and do the same thing over and over again. I’d have games where I was better at it. I’d have games when I wasn’t. Start to start it was just a mess. So it was a lot of work in the offseason.�

The initial results have been encouraging. The fastball had more zip, and he landed it with more authority in spring training. Through the first five starts this season, Flaherty has pitched at least six innings four times. His average fastball velocity is up, but he’s throwing it less. That’s a result of its behavior and recent opponents, Flaherty said. He’s able to offset that with his slider. One out of every three pitches is the slider — an uptick from 24.2% last season to 34.9% of the time this season. It’s also averaging more than 85 mph for the first time in his career.

That pitch has a 40% whiff rate when an opponent swings.

Coupled with a knuckle curve that has a 51% whiff rate, those are the highest of his career. Through 29⅓ innings, he has almost as many strikeouts (36) as batters who have reached base (37). It’s a good start to a fresh start.

It’s the beginning of what Flaherty felt the Tigers believed.

“I just had to be given a chance, and that is what I was hoping for,� he said. “Detroit gave me the opportunity to go out and prove myself (by) going out and helping a team win.�

Carlson to start rehab

Outfielder Dylan Carlson, who began the season on the injured list because of a separated shoulder, will begin his rehab assignment Tuesday night with Class AAA Memphis in Charlotte. The initial plan is for Carlson to start at designated hitter and then move to starts in center field. The length of his rehab assignment will be determined by how he regains his timing at the plate.

• Matt Carpenter (oblique strain) took batting practice without difficulty or soreness Monday at Comerica Park. He could be on his way to a rehab assignment with Class AA Springfield by Thursday if his workouts go well this week in Detroit.
• Tommy Edman (wrist surgery) has resumed swinging from both sides of the plate off a tee. The switch-hitter had been limited to swings from the left side due to discomfort but is now making strides without recovery concerns from both sides of the plate.
• Reliever Keynan Middleton (forearm strain) is scheduled to play catch off the mound early this week — and that’s a precursor to throwing a bullpen session, his first since midway through spring training.
• Pitcher Drew Rom (biceps tendinitis) is scheduled to meet with Dr. Keith Meister for an additional evaluation of his injury to determining why his throwing program has stalled and there’s persisting discomfort in his left arm.