Sunday, September 27, 2020 03:10 PM (ET)

Rays shut out Phillies to finish three-game sweep

Field Level Media
Sep 27, 2020

Rookie Josh Fleming spun six scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays put an end to Philadelphia's playoff hopes Sunday, finishing their three-game sweep of the Phillies with a 5-0 victory in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In a career-long start, Fleming (5-0) recorded five strikeouts and allowed four hits and a walk. Relievers Oliver Drake, Aaron Loup and Ryan Sherriff each tossed a scoreless frame in the six-hit shutout for Tampa Bay, which finished the regular season by winning nine of its last 11 games.

Kevan Smith came off the bench to go 2-for-4 with a double, run and an RBI, while Mike Brosseau produced two hits, including a triple, and drove in a run and scored. Nate Lowe had two hits and a run.

The Rays finished 40-20 -- the best 60-game stretch in club history -- and posted a franchise-high .667 winning percentage in the truncated season, shattering their previous best of .599 in 2008.

The No. 1-seed Rays will meet their American League East rival Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday when the AL Wild Card playoffs open.

In a must-win situation for Philadelphia (28-32), right-hander Aaron Nola (5-5) turned in a poor start by working just 3 2/3 innings and allowing six hits and three runs in his second-shortest stint this season. Bryce Harper produced two hits.

On a day when the Phillies needed help -- they would have earned a wild-card berth by winning and having Milwaukee and San Francisco lose -- the club could not help itself, losing for the seventh time in eight games.

The Rays got a run in the second using three hits -- the most unlikely coming from Smith. The No. 3 catcher pinch hit for Brett Phillips, who left with a leg injury, and Smith rapped a two-strike single to left to score Joey Wendle.

Nola struck out the first two batters in the third, but a bases-empty walk got the home side rolling. Lowe, Wendle and Hunter Renfroe each produced consecutive singles, with the latter two driving in runs to make it 3-0.

In the sixth, Brosseau hit a ball to right, and right fielder Phil Gosselin pulled up and tried to fake out baserunner Smith as if the ball were catchable, but a high hop over Gosselin rolled to the wall for a triple and a 4-0 lead. Brosseau scored on a wild pitch during a strikeout.

--Field Level Media

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