Fulmer, Gracious In Defeat, Tips Cap To Red Sox
By Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Detroit Tigers rookie Michael Fulmer felt great on Friday night.
His slider was sharp, his changeup was deceptive and his fastball was firm and precise.
And yet the Red Sox tagged him for ten hits and a career-high six runs in 5.2 innings, yanking the otherworldly rookie back down to earth.
"I think you just gotta tip your cap sometimes," Fulmer said. "They just had my number tonight."
Indeed.
Clunkers like these happen. Even for Rookie of the Year favorites and Cy Young candidates, two titles that fit Fulmer's name entering Friday night. And two titles that still fit it afterward.
"He was bound to have an outing like this at some point. He couldn't continue to be as dominant as he was on an every-five-day basis," said Brad Ausmus.
The Red Sox jumped on Fulmer early, scoring four runs on a pair of two-run bombs in the first inning. First David Ortiz – man, David Ortiz – launched a towering drive about 15 rows deep into the right field seats, and then Jackie Bradley Jr. flicked one over the Freaky Fast sign in right-center. How fitting.
"He obviously just left a couple pitches up in the first inning that Ortiz and Bradley got a hold of," Ausmus said.
The pitch to Ortiz was a fastball, a 95 mile-per-hour heater that Fulmer tried to sneak by Big Papi on the inner half of the plate. It was a strategy that worked for Fulmer against the Red Sox and their ageless slugger back in July, but this time they were prepared for it.
"I've faced them before and we won that game so I was just looking to do the same thing and try to repeat. They're a fastball-hitting team, they were ready for the fastball and I feel like every time I went inside they were ready for it," Fulmer said.
Of the Red Sox 10 hits off of Fulmer, eight came against his fastball. It wasn't a product of diminished velocity, and both Fulmer and Ausmus rebuffed the idea that the rookie might have been suffering from fatigue.
"Absolutely not," Fulmer said.
"After one start?" Ausmus replied. "He's been phenomenal until this day, and after one start? He was still throwing 95 miles per hour. If he was fatigued I don't think you'd see that."
Quite simply, the Red Sox jumped on the heater if it was there, and waited for it if it wasn't.
"They weren't chasing sliders. I tried to start them on the plate and finish them just off and the [hitters] had some good takes. They were forcing me to throw the fastball and when I did they were ready for it," Fulmer said.
Much to his credit, Fulmer settled down after the Bradley Jr. home run and retired the next eight hitters he faced. But the inexorable Red Sox offense came back for more in the sixth, stringing together four seeing-eye singles to plate two more runs and knock Fulmer out of the game.
"I think the sixth – just some bad luck," he said.
"Ultimately, their guy was just better tonight."
Their guy was Rick Porcello, the punching bag turned Cy Young candidate, who gave up two runs over seven innings. And Fulmer was right -- on this night, he was simply outdone.
Outdone by a strong pitcher and outdone by a strapping offense. It hasn't happened often this year to the precocious rookie, but it was bound to happen eventually. Baseball is an imperfect game played by imperfect people.
"I thought overall tonight, it felt good and I felt sharp. "You just gotta give it to 'em," Fulmer said.