Josh Fleming headed to injured list
BOSTON — The Rays are dealing with another pitcher injury.
Josh Fleming felt pain on the outside of his left elbow during Friday afternoon’s catch and is on the injured list sometime over the next few days.
The Rays were desperate after Friday’s rainy game against the Red Sox to arrange an MRI on Saturday to better assess the extent of Fleming’s injury and how big the extra gap in their rotation will be .
Fleming was due to start or go through multiple innings in one of the games of Saturday’s scheduled day-night doubleheader.
That task will now probably fall to Cooper Criswell, who will be called up by Triple-A as the 27th man. He would follow opening player Trevor Kelley in the opening game at 1:10 p.m.
With Friday’s game rescheduled (to 4:05 p.m. Monday), scheduled starter Tyler Glasnow will be working at 6:10 p.m. Saturday.
The Rays already planned to further shuffle their bullpen staff over the weekend, adding right-hander Robert Stephenson, who was acquired as part of a Friday trade with Pittsburgh; and the activation of right-hander Shawn Armstrong, who has been on the injured list all season with a neck injury. Both moves could happen sometime on Saturday.
Fleming’s injury seemed somewhat of a surprise.
Though he didn’t bat well in his final game on Sunday against the Dodgers, allowing ten runs (eight earned) and 12 hits in six innings, there was no indication anything was wrong. And he had no notable problems in his standard bullpen session between starts on Wednesday.
“He’d been into it a little bit. He threw a full bullpen at 90mph (Wednesday) and felt perfectly fine,” said manager Kevin Cash. “It hurt so bad it affected his throwing behavior (Friday).”
Fleming, too, expressed no sign of concern during a Friday afternoon media session, dismissing Sunday’s outing as an outlier and remaining confident he would do better.
He even joked about how his wife Katie opened a Dove chocolate on the flight to Chicago on Sunday with the words “laugh it at it” on the package and that he thought it was fitting.
The Rays are already missing two key starters in Jeffrey Springs, who is out for the season following Tommy John’s elbow surgery; and Drew Rasmussen, who was sidelined until at least August with a flexor muscle strain near his elbow. In addition, Glasnow is only in the starting XI for the second time after being sidelined since spring training due to a left oblique strain.
Criswell, who was 1-1 in four games and a 6.46 ERA, could be a candidate to take Fleming’s place during a brief absence, as could Yonny Chirinos, who was 2-1 and 2.79 in seven games before he was sent off. This point is likely to come up again on Wednesday.
Should Fleming be absent for an extended period, the Rays could be forced to aggressively seek outside help well before the Aug. 1 close.
Stephenson, 30, brings what manager Kevin Cash described as a “big force” with a fastball/slider mix that should add needed swing-and-miss element and strikeouts to the bullpen. The Rays sent shortstop prospect Alika Williams, a 2020 first-round pick, to Pittsburgh.
Stephenson is 0-3 with a 5.14 ERA in 18 games this season and has hit 17 in 14 innings. Cash said the base numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“I think he’s had a pretty good season,” Cash said. ‘I know because the ERA may have gone up;’ He gave up a couple of home runs, but it’s a good thing.”
Stephenson has spent portions of eight seasons in the majors, pitching for the Reds, Rockies and Pirates. In 229 career games (including 22 starts), he has a 14-19 record and a 4.91 ERA, which averages just over one strikeout per inning. The Rays will likely keep him since they gave up Williams to get him.
“Robert will help strengthen the group and create a different look,” said General Manager Peter Bendix. “He’s a veteran, has good speed, a good slider and can pull out both right and left handers. He should be able to help in any role we need.”
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