Josh Fleming stellar in spot start vs. Rockies

DENVER — A day after allowing 16 runs on 16 hits in a loss to the Rockies, the Pirates flipped the script on Sunday afternoon in the rubber match with an 8-2 victory at Coors Field to earn a series win.

Pittsburgh led, 1-0, through five innings. Then the offense erupted in the top of the sixth to take a 6-0 lead.

Josh Fleming blanked the Rockies for four innings, plus two batters in the fifth. He scattered four hits — two to open the fifth — but issued no walks before turning it over to the bullpen.

It was just his second start of the season. (He was the opener on April 24 against the Brewers.)

“He was really efficient,” manager Derek Shelton said of Fleming’s longest outing since May 28 last year. “That was really the key to the whole game. We didn’t know what we were gonna get. We were hoping we’re gonna get three, and he gave us four.”

Finishing a road trip with two out of three bullpen games in Colorado is not a recipe for reliable relief, but Fleming set the tone early.

“I don’t know what my pitch count was,” Fleming said. “I was just going to try and grind through as many innings as I could until they took me out.”

Fleming, who threw 52 pitches, was especially effective setting up his cutter with his sinker.

“The cutter was the pitch, when I fell behind, I was throwing the most,” Fleming said. “I got really good results out of it. I actually got a lot of fly balls today, which typically isn’t like me. But I think that just goes to show how effective that pitch has been, especially off the sinker.”

“Their bats caught fire a little bit yesterday,” said Fleming, who was paired with batterymate Jason Delay. “J.D. called a great game.”

Carmen Mlodzinski, the opener on Friday, pitched a pair of scoreless innings in relief. Justin Bruihl and Kyle Nicolas each allowed one run in their respective one- and two-inning outings.

“The biggest thing is we threw strikes,” Shelton said of a taxed pitching staff that rose to the occasion. “We didn’t have a walk today. You cannot give up free bases in this ballpark, or they come back to haunt you. I was really proud of our bullpen.”

The Bucs’ first run came on a two-out, seeing-eye single from Jack Suwinski in the second inning. Then all five runs in a sixth-inning rally came with two outs.

Jared Triolo drove the ball through the same hole up the middle that Suwinski found earlier, good for a two-run single. Another single from Suwinski and a walk to Michael A. Taylor loaded the bases for Delay, who cleared them with a double to right field.

Pittsburgh had multiple hits from six players — three from Rowdy Tellez and two each from Andrew McCutchen, Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Triolo, and Suwinski.

“Everyone was having good quality at-bats,” Gonzales said. “Real team at-bats, getting to the next guy, move to the next guy. … Pretty much everybody contributing there.”

Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single to right in the seventh and came around to score on a two-run single from Rowdy Tellez, giving the Pirates more than enough insurance. Reynolds has the longest active streak in the Majors.

Gonzales extended his own hitting streak to seven games, a career high.

“Last night, we did not play well,” Shelton said. “We played poorly, and the Rockies took advantage of it. I was happy that we bounced back today, especially after the first couple innings, because the first couple of innings I didn’t think we played as clean as we should have. I’m really proud of the way we played offensively the last six innings.”