On Tuesday, Michael Fulmer literally had to switch locker rooms after learning that the Detroit Tigers had traded him to the Minnesota Twins for a Double-A pitcher.
One day later, Fulmer made his debut with the Twins against his former team and he and his teammates emerged victorious.
“I think it’s kind of funny his first outing was against us,” Tigers starter Tyler Alexander said. “But I wish the best for him and he did well. Love the guy. Nothing but love.”
Michael Fulmer pitches against former team as Twins defeat Tigers
In one inning of work against his former team, Michael Fulmer gave up just one hit while striking out his former catcher, Eric Haase.
From Star Tribune:
Fulmer blanked his former Tiger teammates, striking out Eric Haase and throwing out Harold Castro when he tried to steal. After Caleb Thielbar, back from the injured list, struck out two of the three hitters he faced, and Jhoan Duran allowed only a walk in an inning of setup work, Lopez finished up, needing only seven pitches to retire the Tigers in order.
“We saw some guys with electric stuff. They made good pitches. We saw some elite sliders from Fulmer. We saw Lopez go out and have as dominant and clean of an innings as you want to see,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s exciting to turn the ball over to those guys.”
But the Tigers’ biggest problem was Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan, who gave up just one earned run on three hits while striking out nine batters.
Following the game, Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch sounded baffled about his team’s inability to hit the fastball this season.
“I don’t know if perplexing is the right word,” Hinch said. “Frustrating, obviously. Our guys can cover fastballs but we haven’t handled it as well as we probably should or could. It’s been going on for a while.”
“Today was the definition of being beat in the zone,” Hinch said. “Ryan does have a carry fastball, so that’s not uncommon for him. But it seemed pretty extreme today.”
We would like to thank Michael Fulmer for doing everything he could to help the Tigers win and we want to wish him the best of luck moving forward with his career.