Rays left-hander Josh Fleming made himself at home Monday night. With 40 family members and friends watching from the Kauffman Stadium stands, Fleming pitched brilliantly and hardly broke a sweat (not surprising, considering mid-inning temperatures in the high 30s).
To welcome back Fleming, a Missouri native, the Royals even gave him a gift.
Locked in a scoreless game, Fleming benefitted from a horrendous fifth-inning, two-out error by Kansas City first baseman Carlos Santana. It directly led to two runs and that was more than enough for the Rays to wrap up a 4-1 victory and establish a season-high four-game win streak.
Fleming (1-1) pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings, allowing two hits and walking none in a 65-pitch outing. He was sailing without incident when Rays manager Kevin Cash went to the bullpen — the third time through the Royals’ lineup was upcoming — and three Rays relievers continued the command performance.
After Santana’s fourth-inning leadoff single, Rays pitchers retired 14 consecutive batters (and 19 of the last 20 Royals, winding back to the second inning) until Michael Taylor singled with two outs in the eighth.
The Rays couldn’t get much going against left-hander Danny Duffy, who allowed just four hits and struck out eight batters in six innings. But Duffy couldn’t escape the fifth inning.
After retiring 14 of the first 15 Rays batters, Duffy allowed a two-out single to Joey Wendle. Willy Adames (3-for-3) followed with what appeared to be an inning-ending popup. Santana, shuffling and trying to track the high popper in the wind, lost it off his glove.
Making matters worse, as the hustling Adames headed to second base, Santana threw the ball in centerfield, allowing Wendle to score the game’s first run.
Kevin Kiermaier then produced an RBI single and it was 2-0.
The Royals’ defense also figured in the Rays’ final run. After Wendle led off the seventh with a walk, then Adames singled, Kiermaier hit what could have been a double-play ball to the backhand side of second baseman Whit Merrifield. Merrifield couldn’t pick it clean and the ball bounced into the outfield, sending Wendle home.
It was first and third, nobody out, but the Rays couldn’t score. In the sixth, the Rays had the bases loaded and one out, and that was wasted when Francisco Mejia tapped into a 1-2-3 double play.
With the Rays pitching, though, missed opportunities became an afterthought.
Right-hander Ryan Thompson, in relief of Fleming, retired all five of his batters. Right-hander Hunter Strickland saw some eighth-inning trouble after allowing two-out singles to Taylor and Nicky Lopez. Strickland then struck out Merrifield, who represented the tying run.
The Rays added to the lead in the ninth off long-ago Ray Wade Davis when Kiermaier slammed an RBI single through a drawn-in infield. Adames had smacked a one-out single before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Salvador Perez.
Rays right-hander Chris Mazza pitched the ninth, when the Royals scored their only run on a sacrifice fly.
