Numbers deceive in Fleming's solid return

BOSTON -- Six games into his 2022 season, Josh Fleming found himself back at Triple-A Durham. Through four relief appearances and two starts, the left-hander owned a 6.38 ERA over 18 1/3 innings in the Majors.

• Box score

Following a nearly two-month stint with Durham, Fleming returned to the big league club ahead of Monday’s series opener at Fenway Park. It didn’t take long for Fleming to show what he’d been working on, coming into the game to relieve Jalen Beeks after two innings in the Rays’ 4-0 loss to the Red Sox.

Fleming threw a season-high five innings (plus four batters), getting tagged for four runs (three earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks. It may not have been a perfect outing, but the line doesn’t tell the whole story.

“He threw a lot of strikes. He had a good sinker, put the ball on the ground, he pitched ahead a lot,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He's really tough on lefties and can kind of navigate through the righties, so [I’m] just pleased with the overall effort. The fastball played really well. And then I think the second time through, he started introducing the changeup a little bit, and that helped as well.”

Facing the top of the Red Sox’s lineup in Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez in the third inning, Fleming retired all three on grounders in his first big league appearance since May 6. He found nearly the same success in the fourth -- minus one 91.6 mph slider that Trevor Story hit to center for a solo homer.

“I thought I made some good pitches. I think the one mistake was the home run that Story hit,” Fleming said. “Fell behind, and I gave him kind of a cookie to hit. But honestly, I thought I threw the ball really well out there, and [I] obviously made that error in the eighth, which cost us another two runs. So overall, felt really good, though.”

The second run Fleming allowed came on a misplay with two outs in the fifth inning. Devers hit a soft grounder to second baseman Isaac Paredes, who bobbled the ball and allowed Devers to reach as Christian Arroyo scored from third. Devers was credited with an infield single.

“It's just kind of the things that happen in the game,” Paredes said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I thought I was going to make the play, but I wasn't able to.”

The third run off Fleming scored in the eighth on another defensive mishap, this time by Fleming. The pitcher bobbled a tapper hit by Alex Verdugo for an error, missing a double-play opportunity and allowing Devers to cross the plate.

“I pride myself on my defense, and unfortunately, I missed that one,” Fleming said. “But I think it was just spinning a little weird and I thought it was going to pop up, and it never did. It kind of stayed and went under my glove. But it's a play that I think I make 100 out of 100 times, and unfortunately, if there was 101 of them, that one got under my glove.”

Fleming was optioned to Durham on May 7 following an outing in Seattle in which he allowed two runs on four hits with three walks in 2 2/3 innings. In the Minors, his focus was on “going one pitch at a time” and not getting caught up in things that were out of his control.

Eight games (seven starts) with the Triple-A club showed encouraging results of that shift in mindset. Fleming went 7-1 with a 2.36 ERA, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) with 33 strikeouts and eight walks in 45 2/3 innings. The mindset shift worked in the Minors, and on Monday, it was time to apply it to the Majors.

“Just confidence in all my pitches,” Fleming said of how he felt Monday compared to his early-season outings. “I had some bad cutters in there, but other than that, I was able to mix them pretty well and just go right at guys. In the first inning, I fell behind to pretty much all three of the batters I faced, but after that, I was able to settle down and really just get to strike one first and then expand from there.”

Though on paper it wasn’t a show-stopping day, Fleming’s return marked a hopeful turning point for the left-hander and a Rays bullpen that’s reeling from injuries.