What a Knight! Fulmer hurls five perfect frames for Triple-A Charlotte
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After an up-and-down month in the big leagues pitching out of the White Sox bullpen, Carson Fulmer has gotten back on track as a starter with Triple-A Charlotte.
On Sunday, the White Sox top prospect (No. 63 overall), spun five perfect innings for the Knights in arguably the best performance of his career. He struck out five while throwing 47 of his 72 pitches for strikes to notch his first Triple-A win, as Charlotte routed Norfolk, 14-4.
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The White Sox promoted Fulmer from Double-A Birmingham to the Major Leagues on July 15, nearly 13 months after the organization selected the Vanderbilt product with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 Draft. Upon making the jump, he was shifted from a starting role to the bullpen, where he would make eight appearances for the White Sox, posting an 8.49 ERA with 10 strikeouts and seven walks in 11 2/3 innings.
MILB Video - Title: Fulmer finishes the fifth - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1109260783
Things didn't immediately improve for Fulmer after he was optioned to Charlotte. In his Triple-A debut on Aug. 19, the 22-year-old right-hander allowed six earned runs on five hits and two walks in his lone inning of work. Fulmer did show improvement in his subsequent turn, though, permitting one run on two hits in four innings against Durham.
• Box score
With his gem on Sunday, Fulmer lowered his ERA to 4.92 through 20 starts between the Double- and Triple-A levels. His 54 walks in that span represent an obvious need for improvement, but Fulmer has still been tough on opposing hitters this season, with eight home runs allowed in 97 innings in the Minors.
Charlotte reliever Juan Minaya replaced Fulmer and maintained the perfect game bid up until two outs in the seventh inning, when Norfolk first baseman Christian Walker reached base on a throwing error by second baseman Jake Peter. But the right-hander retired the next hitter to keep the combined no-hit bid intact.
However, reliever Tyler Barnette replaced Minaya in the eighth inning and allowed a single to the first hitter he faced, Corban Joseph, to end the no-hitter bid.