Jack Flaherty rocked for three home runs in Detroit Tigers' 5-0 loss to Los Angeles Angels

Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty was born in Burbank, California. His hometown is roughly 40 miles away from Angel Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels.

Flaherty returned home for Thursday's start, facing the Angels.

It wasn't a homecoming to celebrate.

The Tigers lost, 5-0, to the Angels in Thursday's opener of a four-game series.

Flaherty, whom the Tigers plan to trade at the July 30 deadline, surrendered five runs on seven hits and one walk with seven strikeouts across 5⅔ innings, throwing 98 pitches. He left too many fastballs over the heart of the plate, and he didn't get enough horizontal movement on some of his sliders. As a result, Flaherty experienced his worst start since early April.

His ERA jumped from 2.92 to 3.24 after giving up five runs to the Angels his 15th start.

"He got beat on some fastballs early with some homers," manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in Anaheim. "He was challenging the strike zone, and they didn't miss a couple of middle-middle pitches. They took advantage and did damage. The swings got a little bit better when they had the lead, and they ended up getting to him a little more as the outing went on."

ACE STATUS: How Tarik Skubal tackled Phillies to help Tigers beat ERA leader Ranger Suárez

The Tigers (37-44) wrapped up the first half of their season by falling seven games under .500 for the first time, losing 14 of their last 20 games. They've scored one or zero runs in 23 of their 81 games.

This time, Angels right-hander Davis Daniel — a 27-year-old making his first start in the fourth game of his MLB career — shut down the Tigers, throwing eight scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a 99-pitch masterpiece.

Daniel had a 5.33 ERA in 14 starts with Triple-A Salt Lake before Thursday's game against the Tigers.

"The thing he did is just attack the strike zone," Hinch said. "He beat us inside the strike zone with a lot of strikes, a lot of count leverage and a lot of swings that weren't on time. He continued to be relentless with strikes because it was working for him. He was getting outs."

The Tigers managed a mere four hits — without a walk — in their matchup against Daniel, highlighted by Matt Vierling's single and Riley Greene's double in the first inning. The two other hits: Greene's single in the fourth inning and Wenceel Pérez's single in the eighth inning.

It was another ugly performance from the Tigers' bad offense.

"He beat us in the strike zone," Hinch said. "Plain and simple."

[ MUST LISTEN: Make"Days of Roar" your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

Jack Flaherty hit hard

The first of three home runs occurred in the second inning, when Miguel Sanó pounded a middle-middle fastball for a 406-foot solo home run to center field.

It was a bad mistake from Flaherty.

MORE ABOUT JACK: Tigers' Jack Flaherty finds elite version of fastball, slider by scrapping cutter

In the fourth inning, Flaherty struck out Taylor Ward and Sanó for back-to-back outs, but Willie Calhoun unloaded on an up-and-away fastball for a 414-foot solo home run to right-center field.

The pair of homers put the Angels ahead, 2-0.

The Angels extended their lead to 5-0 with three runs in the fifth inning, which began with Zach Neto's leadoff double off Flaherty's slider. With two outs, Nolan Schanuel smacked Flaherty's middle-middle sinker to left field for an RBI single, making it 3-0.

Luis Rengifo punished Flaherty's middle-down slider for a 404-foot two-run home run to right-center field. The two-out homer pushed the Angels' advantage to 5-0.

Flaherty generated just 15 whiffs on 54 swings — a 27.8% whiff rate — with two fastballs, four sliders and nine curveballs. He entered Thursday's start with a 34.2% whiff rate in his first 14 starts, ranking in MLB's 95th percentile.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' bats stymied by rookie in 5-0 loss to L.A. Angels