ST. LOUIS -- Over his first five seasons, Jack Flaherty had appeared in 93 games and made 90 regular-season starts prior to Wednesday. He had pitched previously under the white-hot glare of Dodger Stadium -- the dream destination for a California-cool kid hailing from nearby Burbank -- and he had even been involved in four playoff games for the Cardinals.

The last thing the 26-year-old Flaherty expected Wednesday night in his first MLB start of 2022 was to be nervous and literally sucking wind to slow down his pounding heartbeat. However, there was Flaherty, facing the slumping Pirates, slogging through a 31-pitch first inning, muddling through an ugly second and surprisingly battling his own adrenaline as much as the opponent across the way.

“That’s about as juiced up as I’ve been, honestly,” said Flaherty, who missed all of March, April and May and half of June while recovering from inflammation in his right shoulder that dated back to last season. “I had to catch my breath and slow down there.

“I don’t know why, how or what [happened] because I usually keep that [nervousness] under wraps pretty well, but it was one of those that I had to crank out of myself,” Flaherty recalled incredulously. “I don’t know where it came from. I’ve pitched in playoff games before and I’ve pitched in big settings. But it was one of those where I was like, ‘Slow down a little bit!’ Maybe that led to some of the first-inning command being a little bit off. After that, I was finally able to settle in and go and I finally settled in in the third.”

Flaherty’s anxious feelings likely played a role in him needing 60 pitches to get through three innings while surrendering three hits and four runs -- only two of which were earned after he and catcher Yadier Molina made errant throws to first on bunt plays. The Cardinals’ offense ultimately got Flaherty off the hook, but they came up short in their attempt to sweep the Pirates when Bryan Reynolds hit a tie-breaking two-run home run in the seventh off Andre Pallante for a 6-4 Pittsburgh victory.

To the always intense Flaherty, he wanted nothing to do with excuses for his uneven performance afterward. He pushed hard to start at Busch Stadium on Wednesday after easily cruising through rehab starts with Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis, and the Cardinals’ management, medical teams and the coaching staff were onboard with it after advanced metrics backed up Flaherty’s claims that he felt better than he had at any point over the past two seasons.

Flaherty gave himself no excuses for leaving a pitch out over the plate in the first inning to Reynolds, who tripled. He hated walking Ke’Bryan Hayes and not rallying after a potential double-play ball was bobbled by rookie first baseman Brendan Donovan.

“There is no ‘part of the process’ to any [of] this,” Flaherty said. “If I come out and pitch, I want to pitch well. There’s no, ‘Well, you pitched and it’s the first one -- [heck], no!’ You’ve felt good this whole time and you want to pitch well and not have a bad first inning like I did.”

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol didn’t grade Flaherty’s first start of the season nearly as harsh as the standout pitcher with a 32-24 record and a career 3.36 ERA. He, too, noticed how the game seemed to speed up on the usually staid Flaherty and he thought it was understandable for there to be jitters while starting a game at Busch Stadium for the first time since Aug. 24, 2021.

“Overall, I actually think he did well for the first time out,” said Marmol, while pointing out that Flaherty’s final line would look significantly better if not for the two wild throws on back-to-back bunt plays in the second inning. “He commanded his fastball for strikes and got some ground-ball outs but he left some sliders up and got hurt. Overall, still positive, and more importantly, he feels really good afterwards.”

Marmol said he saw no reason why Flaherty won’t be able to make his next start -- likely Tuesday in Milwaukee against the NL Central rival Brewers. By then, Flaherty expects to be able to throw at least 75 pitches -- up from the 60 he tossed on Wednesday -- and have his in-game emotions better under control. He expects to build off a 10-pitch third inning where he needed just 10 pitches.

“I put the ball where I wanted, and it was definitely better [in the third inning],” he said. “Maybe, with me working on a short pitch count, if it’s a longer game [next Tuesday], it turns into something different, and I can get a little deeper and settle down better.”