Michael Fulmer Wins First Game In Tigers Debut

The Detroit Tigers called up Michael Fulmer on Friday to start against the Minnesota Twins and the organizations #1 prospect tossed five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, one walk and four strikeouts, en route to his first major league victory.

Fulmer, who three 93 pitches (61 for strikes), retired the first two batters he faced on a ground out and strikeout.

The Oklahoma native then battled through a 10-pitch at bat against Joe Mauer, as Fulmer threw 10 straight 4-Seam Fastballs that eventually led to Mauer hitting a line drive single to center field. Next batter Miguel Sano saw three straight sliders and promptly hit into an inning ending ground out to end strand the Twins catcher at first.

As for the Tigers offense, they staked Fulmer to an early 3-0 lead, highlighted by an RBI double off the bat of J.D. Martinez, a runs coring single from Victor Martinez, and a sac fly by Nick Castellanos.

Fulmer settled into the second, retiring the Twins in order, by striking out both Byung Ho Park and Oswaldo Arcia on swing and misses at his 4-Seam Fastball, and Eduardo Nunez flew out to right field to end the inning.

In the third, Fulmer found himself in trouble as he gave up back to back one-out singles, but was able to induce a pop out and ground out to end the threat. The Twins finally broke through against the 6’3″ right hander as they scored a run on an RBI single off the bat of Eduardo Escobar cutting the Tigers lead to within a run at 3-1.

In Fulmer’s last inning, he gave up a one out walk to Brian Dozier, then after Mauer flied out, and next batter Sano hit a run scoring double to center field to pull Minnesota within 4-2. Miguel Cabrera homered in the top of the inning to extend the Tigers lead at the time to 4-1.

The Tigers offense added three in the eighth and two in the ninth to extend the lead to 9-2 and secure the rookies first major league victory.

The victory improved the Tigers to 12-10 and the loss dropped the Twins to 7-16, as they continue to dwell in the American League Central cellar.

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.