Josh Fleming, Jason Delay deliver for Pirates in bounce-back win over Rockies to clinch series

The Pittsburgh Pirates turned to a pair of new arrivals for emergency spot starts, and left-handed reliever Josh Fleming and catcher Jason Delay required no extra incentive.

Battery mates at Triple-A Indianapolis, both used their second chances to provide prominent performances as the Pirates bounced back from a double-digit defeat to clinch a series win.

Fleming tossed four scoreless innings, and Delay delivered a three-run double in the sixth inning to help the Pirates pull away for an 8-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.

“It definitely helps, being in Indy the last three weeks and catching him every time he came into the ’pen, we had a really good idea of what we wanted to do with the hitters,” Delay said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I obviously know his stuff really well, so we were on the same page the whole time. That was such a big outing from him, just to save our bullpen. If he didn’t have an outing like that, who knows where that game could have gone?”

The Pirates answered a 16-4 loss Saturday night with 15 hits, going 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position. Led by Rowdy Tellez, who went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, six Pirates players had multiple hits.

Designated for assignment May 14, Fleming had his contract selected Friday from Indianapolis and made his second start of the season when rookie Paul Skenes’ turn in the rotation was pushed to Monday.

“He was really efficient,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I mean, that was really the key to the whole game. We didn’t know what we were going to get. We were hoping we were going to get three (innings). He gave us four.”

Fleming allowed four hits without a walk and had two strikeouts, inducing as many fly balls (four) as groundouts. He threw 52 pitches, with an even split of his cutter and sinker (20 each).

“That was the big goal for me today, to throw strikes, let them put the ball in play and make mistakes — and it worked,” said Fleming, who relied on his cutter and sinker. “The cutter, the majority of the time, when I fell behind that was the pitch I was throwing the most. I got really good results out of it. Actually, I got a lot of fly balls today, which typically isn’t like me. I think that just goes to show how effective that pitch has been, especially off the sinker it’s going to do a good job.”

It was the first career three-RBI game for Delay, who missed more than a month after undergoing surgery in April to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Delay was recalled from Indianapolis on Saturday when Henry Davis was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list after taking a foul ball off his face mask.

The Pirates used four relievers in their second bullpen game of the season, Delay’s first game in the majors since March 31 at Miami. He was placed on the injured list in early April.

“He caught the ball really well,” Shelton said. “To go through that many relievers, it’s almost like a spring training game where you have to be able to adjust game plans.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, when Jared Triolo hit a two-out double to right and scored on Jack Suwinski’s single to right-center. Suwinski was caught stealing second to end the frame.

They failed to take advantage of runners in scoring position the next two innings. In the third, Andrew McCutchen hit a two-out flare to right for a single and Bryan Reynolds drew a walk, but Dakota Hudson escaped by getting Oneil Cruz to go down swinging.

Then Nick Gonzales and Tellez hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth, only for Triolo and Suwinski to strike out with runners on first and third. When Tellez attempted to steal second, Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings cut him off with a throw. Gonzales broke for home, only to get caught in a 2-4-2-5 rundown to end the scoring chance.

Meantime, Fleming kept the Rockies off the scoreboard. He retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced, giving up a single to Ryan McMahon in the first and a double to Charlie Blackmon in the third.

The only scoring threat came in the fifth after singles by Nolan Jones and Jake Cave. But Carmen Mlodzinski relieved Fleming and got Hunter Goodman to hit into a 6-4-3 double play and Adael Amador to ground out to first to escape unscathed on his way to a pair of perfect innings.

“Carmen came in and got the huge double play, the huge rollover,” Fleming said, “and kind of saved me there.”

The Pirates finally capitalized again in the five-run sixth. Cruz and Gonzales started with singles, and Triolo drove in both with a single through the middle for a 3-0 lead. Suwinski followed with a single and Michael A. Taylor worked a nine-pitch at-bat to draw a walk to load the bases, and Delay’s bases-clearing double to the right-center gap gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead. It was Delay’s first hit of the season.

“I don’t get excited too often, but I showed a little emotion there at second,” Delay said. “Just a really good feeling. Going back to everything that happened this year, having the knee surgery and it’s a grind to get back to the major leagues to be able to do that. It was special for me, so I felt really, really good.”

In the seventh, Bryan Reynolds hit a leadoff single to right to stretch his hitting streak to 14 games and reached third when Cruz drilled a double to right-center. Both scored on a single to left by Tellez, as the Pirates boosted their lead to 8-0.

The shutout bid was spoiled in the seventh, when Stallings hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on a single by Jones and scored when Jake Cave grounded into a forceout at second. The Pirates challenged the safe call at first, hoping for a double play to preserve the shutout, but the call stood after video review.

The Rockies scored in the ninth against Kyle Nicolas when Stallings singled, reached second as Michael Toglia dropped a pop fly between four Pirates in shallow right and scored on a bloop to left by Jones to cut it to 8-2. With two outs, Toglia and Jones advanced on a wild pitch but Nicolas got Goodman looking at a called third strike to end the game.

“He did a nice job finishing off,” Shelton said. “We had a bullpen day. We were able to stay away from our leverage guys. Josh Fleming to start, it was outstanding. And I think the biggest thing is we threw strikes. We didn’t have a walk. You cannot give up free bases in this ballpark, or they come back to haunt you, and I was really proud of our bullpen.”