The last time we saw Josh Fleming wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform, things did not go according to plan.
And actually, that might actually be the understatement of the year. Fleming last appeared for the Pirates in a May 13th game in Milwaukee against the Brewers. Fleming came on for the seventh inning of a 5-0 Pittsburgh lead. in the seventh, Fleming surrendered 2 earned runs, coming off the bat of Willy Adames.
Then, in an effort to give Fleming some more breathing room, the Pirates were able to tack on a pair of runs themselves, when Yasmani Grandal homered to score both him and Jared Triolo.
The Pirates put Fleming back out for the eighth, but that decision turned into a disaster in a hurry. He failed to record a single out in the eighth, and the Brewers took him to the cleaners, loading the bases before Jake Bauers brought the house down with a grand slam.
Though the Pirates would still win that game 8-6, Fleming had been on the mound for all runs against, and all but one of the runs scored by Milwaukee were earned runs against him.
The following day, Fleming’s locker was cleaned out, and the veteran free agent signing was designated for assignment. His first stint in Pittsburgh ended with a 5.68 ERA, 1.684 WHIP, and 1.44 K/BB ratio through 19.0 innings.
Going unclaimed on waivers, he was sent outright to the Indianapolis Indians, Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate. With Indy, Fleming pitched 12.0 innings, with an identical 5.68 ERA, but a much lower 1.105 WHIP and a much higher K/BB ratio of 2.50 through 12.0 innings.
His ERA in Indianapolis was spiked largely because of two games. Ironically, they were both his first and last appearances in Triple-A this season, allowing 3 earned runs in 1.0 innings in his Indianapolis debut, and 4 earned runs through 2.2 innings in his final game.
Despite some shaky games, the Pirates selected his contract after their bullpen suffered an injury to Hunter Stratton. Pittsburgh’s bullpen has seen a lot of turnover in recent weeks, but the Pirates opted for a familiar face in bringing up another guy from Triple-A.
The team didn’t make it easy on him in his first game back in the big leagues. Going with their second bullpen game in three days, Fleming was tabbed as the starter in Colorado against the Rockies.
The Pirates were looking for a quick way to forget last night, after they were thrashed for 16 runs in their biggest loss of the season. Paul Skenes was origianllt slated to start today’s game, but the team wanted to get him one more day of rest before he went back out on the mound.
Fleming did have some experience starting with the Pirates. He started for them back on April 24th, going 2.1 innings against Milwaukee at home. Despite both of the runs scored against him being unearned, he was dinged with the loss as Pittsburgh fell in that game, 3-2.
However, this start went much, much better for the lefty.
In the hitter friendly ballpark of Coors Field, Fleming went 4.0 innings, allowing 4 hits and no runs in a game where the Pirates were in desperate need of him to keep the game close. Fleming did start the fifth inning, but after surrendering back to back singles, the Pirates went to the bullpen and brought out Carmen Mlodzinski.
Mlodzinski was able to strand both runners, helped largely by a double play, which I’m sure Fleming greatly appreciated.
Fleming gave out no free passes and struck out two, including this one on ex-Pirate Jacob Stallings.
In all, Fleming hurled 52 pitches, with 32 of them being strikes. That pitch count was his second highest of the season, behind a 58-pitch, 3.0 inning appearance back in the opening week of the season.
Fleming delivered above and beyond what the Pirates could have asked from him. This is (sadly) far from the first bullpen game we’ve seen the Pirates do this season, but this was the first go around that saw Pittsburgh be without their long reliever in Luis Ortiz.
Ortiz has carved out a nice role for himself on this team, and in recent bullpen games as been the middle inning guy, creating a very sturdy bridge from the starter Mlodzinski to the top end bullpen arms late in the game.
This time, however, Ortiz was unavailable, having gone 5.0 innings and throwing 69 pitches less than 48 hours ago. So with limited options in the bullpen and no long reliever to go to, Fleming was given a tall order in his first game back in the major leagues.
The Pirates would have been lucky if Fleming was able to go, say, 3.0 innings, but to get a fourth out of him, and have all of them be scoreless, was insanely valuable. It allowed Mlodzinski to pitch two efficient innings and not overwork other arms in the bullpen.
It’s also very encouraging to see Fleming perform well back in a Pirates uniform. Towards the end of his first stint in Pittsburgh, he looked broken. There’s a debate to be had about whether the Pirates were overusing him, or if he was just giving opponents too much to hit.
But in either case, it just wasn’t working, and a diamond in the rough offseason signing had become buried in the minors. It was excellent to see him come back today, and be a dominant force on the mound.
(Featured photo by Darren Yamashita/USA Today Sports)
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