With 3 K's, Fulmer hopes he's turned a corner

MINNEAPOLIS -- Michael Fulmer got a phone call from Tigers top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe a few days ago. Jobe didn’t need pitching advice. He needed a plumber.

No, Jobe wasn’t asking for Fulmer to go back to his old side job, before he made it in the big leagues. The youngster is staying at Fulmer’s place in Lakeland, Fla., and there was a plumbing issue. Fulmer had Jobe call a professional, but he appreciated the irony.

While Fulmer has hit a rough spell, he isn’t on his way back to plumbing just yet. His inning in Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Twins at Target Field showed that he can still deliver big outs out of Detroit’s bullpen.

Fulmer hadn’t pitched since last Wednesday, when he gave up one run on three hits to the Rays to continue a frustrating stretch for him. He’d given up six runs on eight hits over five innings in five appearances, and blown two leads. More glaring, he had walked six batters, three of them in a walk-off loss in Houston on May 7.

“The walks are kind of the one sign for me that something's not right,” Fulmer said Tuesday afternoon. “I shouldn't be walking guys unless it's obviously a smart walk [strategically].”

Fulmer was out of whack mechanically, and he needed time to fix it. His balancing act between making tweaks before games and being ready to pitch in games wasn’t working, and he was poring over video. Conversely, manager A.J. Hinch had other options he could trust, so he moved Fulmer down in the pecking order. He didn’t even warm up in Monday’s walk-off loss to the Twins.

“I talked to [Hinch] the other day while we were in Cleveland,” Fulmer said. “I told him, 'I know we haven't talked much about my personal performance over the last couple weeks, but just want to let you know I have no doubt it'll be back. I'm working on things right now. I feel like I'm just a tick away. Whether it's just trying to get me some innings in different situations or whatever it is, I'm happy to do so.'

“I've always been ready every day down there in case my name gets called, but I look at it this way: [Andrew] Chafin and Alex Lange have been throwing the ball lights-out, and those two guys right now give us the best position to win, with [closer Gregory] Soto obviously. [Joe Jiménez] is throwing the ball extremely well. All I care about is winning. So if I've got a little tweak I need to work on, we've got more than enough guys to step up and take those big roles.”

Likewise, Hinch assured him not to worry.

“I told him I'm not going to lose faith in him, that we obviously need him to pitch a little bit better to continue to get the leverage innings,” Hinch said before Tuesday’s game. “And he can do that. He has to work through this slider-cutter thing. I know he's going to mix in his breaking ball a little bit more, his curveball.”

Hours later, Fulmer did just that. The results were just what Fulmer needed, not only for his confidence but for his pitches themselves.

Fulmer faced the middle of Minnesota’s lineup in the eighth inning and struck out the side -- Luis Arraez on a 3-2 slider, Carlos Correa on a 2-2 curveball and Gary Sanchez on a 3-2 slider. He threw a half-dozen curveballs, a half-dozen sliders, a half-dozen sinkers and one fastball. Fulmer's heater averaged 93 mph and topped out at 95, still down from last season, but his mix ensured it didn’t matter.

“I like the incorporation of his curveball, even to right-handed hitters,” Hinch said. “I know it wasn't on their scouting report when they looked at him. They all looked a little bit surprised by it. It can be an effective pitch.”

Catcher Tucker Barnhart had been telling Fulmer that for a while.

“I think whenever you can differ in velocities as much as that pitch does to his slider and to his fastball, I think it's really big,” Barnhart said. “It's a really good pitch. I love seeing him use it tonight.

“I think he's going to go on a run here of really good outings and be pitching in huge spots for us as a team. We need him. We have all the confidence in the world in him.”

Outings like this give Fulmer confidence, more than any pitching technology can. He’s still not where he needs to be, but he can see his way through it.