ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Former Webster University All-American pitcher Josh Fleming closed out the 2020 regular season on Sunday afternoon by pitching six scoreless innings en route to leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Tropicana Field.
The win, which improved the Rays to an American League best 40-20 record, helped the AL East Champion Rays sweep the three-game series from the Phillies and eliminate Philadelphia from the postseason.
Tampa will open the MLB Playoffs on Tuesday at home with a three-game series against Toronto, who finished 32-18 and earned the No. 8 seed in this year's expanded playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rays are the No. 1 seed.
Against the Phillies, Fleming, who made his MLB debut against Toronto on Aug. 23, allowed four hits over six innings, while walking one and striking out five. The six innings was the longest outing so far of Fleming's brief major league career.
With Sunday's win, Fleming improved to 5-0 on the season and became the first Rays pitcher to begin his major league career with five straight wins. In addition, the six innings were his longest career scoreless start as he tossed 5.1 scoreless innings in his second career start against Miami on Sept. 29.
"Flem has helped us get to this point," Rays manager Kevin Cash said following Sunday's regular season finale. "He's very much appreciated. Since he has been here, it seems like every time he has been on the mound, he has given us a chance to win."
Fleming made his fifth start of his major league career against Philadelphia on Sunday. Along with the Phillies, he also made starts this season against Toronto, Boston and Miami, who he faced twice. The left-hander, who tossed 90 pitches in Sunday's start, also pitched 6.2 innings in relief on the year against both Washington and the New York Mets.
"When I first got called up (Aug. 23 debut), I knew I could be making a couple of spot starts, then who knows from there?" Fleming told the Tampa Bay Times following Sunday's game. "Obviously, I got to stick around the whole year and it felt great being part of this. We're not done yet, so hopefully we can keep it rolling."
In Sunday's start, Fleming opened the game by striking out two of the first four batters he faced in the first inning as he opened the game with a strikeout of Andrew McCutchen and after a groundout by Alec Bohm for the second out, Bryce Harper reached on a single to center, but Fleming would leave Harper on first after ending the inning with a strike out of J.T. Realmuto.
Fleming would retire the Phillies in order in the second and after allowing an infield single to open the third, he would get the first out on a fielder's choice and then a double play grounder by McCutchen to end the third inning.
The Phillies put two runners on base in the fourth thanks to a hit by Harper and an infield single by Didi Gregorius, but Fleming got Phil Gosselin to ground out to end the inning with two runners left stranded.
Fleming, who was named the D3Baseball.com Pitcher of the Year in 2017, would retire the Phillies in order in the fifth and then opened the sixth with a ground out by Bohm, a strikeout of Harper and after walking Realmuto, Jean Segura would strike out swinging on Fleming's 90th and final pitch of the day.
Oliver Drake, Aaron Loup and Ryan Sherriff each pitched an inning to help preserve the shutout for the Rays as the bullpen would allow just two hits over the final three innings.
Fleming, who is listed on the Rays 40-man playoff roster and is expected to be used as a reliever in the playoffs, tossed 32.1 innings on the season and he allowed 28 hits, 10 runs, 10 earned runs, while walking seven and striking out 25. He recorded a 2.78 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, a 3.57 strikeout to walk ratio and a 6.96 K/9 ratio.
The seven major league appearances this season for Fleming marked a rapid climb through the Rays farm system for the former Gorlok hurler. He is in his fourth season of professional baseball and was expected to start the season at Triple-A Durham before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world in mid-March and forced the cancellation of the entire minor league baseball season for 2020.
Fleming, who was a non-roster invitee to the Rays MLB spring training camp this spring and was on the club's 60-man roster for the 2020 season, has recorded a combined 3.40 ERA with a 6.6 K/9 and a 1.6 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent in his first three seasons of professional baseball.
In his third minor league season in 2019, Fleming, who finished the 2019 season at Triple-A Durham, was named the MVP of the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League by the Rays after making 21 appearances on the mound for the Biscuits.
For the 2019 season at both the Double and Triple-A levels, Fleming, who is ranked as the 29th top prospect in the Rays system according to MLB.com, went a combined 12-7 with a 3.57 ERA. He made 25 appearances, including 20 starts and tossed three complete game and one shutout. In 148.2 innings of work over two teams, Fleming allowed 151 hits, 70 runs, 59 earned runs, walked 27 and recorded 108 strikeouts. On the year, he had a combined WHIP of 1.20.
Since beginning his professional career with Princeton (W.Va.) in the Appalachian League in the summer of 2017, Fleming has posted a 22-13 record and a 3.40 ERA in 56 appearances and 46 starts for five different teams. In his professional career, he has tossed four complete games, one shutout and in 294 career innings, he has recorded 214 strikeouts and walked just 53.
In his three year Webster career from 2015-17, Fleming set Webster single season marks for ERA and strikeouts and allowed the second lowest batting average for opponents (.165). Additionally, Fleming recorded the lowest career ERA in school history (1.92) and finished second in career strikeouts (251) and fourth in wins (19).
