KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Former Webster University All-American pitcher Josh Fleming returned to his state here Monday evening as he earned the start and win on the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays in its series opener against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
 
Fleming, who was playing for the first time in his professional career back home in Missouri, had nearly 40 family members and friends, including Webster head baseball coach Bill Kurich, in attendance see Fleming pitch 5 1/3 shutout innings in a 4-1 victory over the Royals to extend the Rays win streak to four games.
 
In his second start of the season, Fleming, who replaced the injured Chris Archer on the Rays roster last week after being recalled from Tampa's alternate training site, allowed two hits and walked none in his 65 pitch outing to improve his record to 1-1 on the season. Along with allowing two hits and not walking a batter, Fleming recorded three strikeouts and hit a batter to lower his 2021 season ERA to 0.87.
 
Against the Royals, Fleming retired 12 of the final 13 Royal hitters he faced after hitting Hanser Alberto with a pitch to open the second inning as the only base runner he allowed was Carlos Santana, who led off the fourth with a single to center, but would leave Santana stranded after retiring the next three Royals in order, including striking out Jorge Soler looking. Fleming would be replaced in the sixth by Ryan Thompson after getting Nicky Lopez to ground out.
 
Monday's start against the Royals was the second of the season for Fleming as he made his first start of the 2021 season last Wednesday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., against Texas. In that start, the left-hander pitched five innings and allowed four hits and one run, while walking two and striking out two.
 
Fleming, who was named the 2017 D3Baseball.com Pitcher of the Year and was drafted in the 5th round (139th overall pick) in the 2017 MLB Draft, made his MLB debut on Aug. 23, 2020 against Toronto and pitched 2.2 innings out of the bullpen for the Rays in the 2020 World Series.
 
During the 2020 regular season, Fleming, who is originally from Bridgeton, Mo., and currently lives in Columbia, Ill., went 5-0 with a 2.78 ERA. He made seven appearances on the mound, including five starts and in those seven appearances, he tossed 32.1 innings and allowed 28 hits, 10 runs, 10 earned runs, while walking seven and striking out 25. Additionally, Fleming was one of the top pitchers in the league at inducing ground balls as he had a ground ball rate of 63.5 percent.

In his MLB debut against Toronto last season, Fleming pitched five innings and allowed four hits and two earned runs, while walking two and striking out three in helping the Rays to a 5-4 win.

The 6-foot-2 left-hander, who is in his fifth season of professional baseball, began the 2021 MLB season at the Rays alternate training camp site at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Fla., after making four appearances and one start during 2021 spring training with the Rays. In those four spring training games, Fleming went 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA and in 8.2 innings of work, he allowed three hits, no runs, while walking one and striking out eight.
 
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 20th 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.