ANAHEIM, Calif. -- He’d already waited two days for his first major league appearance, so another 60 seconds wouldn’t bother Carson Fulmer.
But just as the bullpen door opened in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon, the White Sox prospect had to pause for the playing of ‘God Bless America.’ Fulmer said after an 8-1 White Sox loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium that he took advantage of the delay to pay attention to his surroundings. Once he reached the mound, Fulmer struck out two in two scoreless innings.
“It actually kind of slowed me down a little bit,” Fulmer said. “It let me take a deep breath. It’s one of those moments that you try to cherish as much as you can. It was definitely an opportunity I’ll never forget.”
It’s hard to imagine he could forget it given that Fulmer found Albert Pujols waiting for him in the batter’s box for the start to his major league career.
Pujols wasn’t there long.
The first player from the class of 2015 to reach the big leagues, Fulmer started the future Hall of Famer off with a 93-mph fastball for a called strike. His second pitch, an 85-mph changeup, went for a swinging strike. Fulmer then got Pujols to chase a curveball for a three-pitch strikeout.
“It was impressive,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He came out just throwing strikes. “He looked good. He was throwing hard. He was throwing strikes.”
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Fulmer filled up the strike zone with 15 strikes in 21 pitches.
He hit Andrelton Simmons with a pitch with two outs in the seventh but worked around it for a scoreless inning. Fellow rookie, catcher Omar Narvaez, said he tried to work to Fulmer’s strengths and not notice that Pujols was standing in.
Fulmer also struck out Jeff Bandy to start the eighth inning and worked around a one-out single, his outing ending on a Yunel Escobar double play.
“He was amazing,” Narvaez said.
The performance arrived a week after Fulmer struck out two in the All-Star Futures Game. He made a quick trip to Arizona to pitch a simulated game but joined the White Sox on Friday. Ventura said after Friday’s game he didn’t plan to use Fulmer that day. James Shields followed with a complete game on Saturday.
But with the White Sox down big on Sunday, Ventura didn’t hesitate to break in the No. 8 overall pick of the 2015 draft. Fulmer said the additional time to adjust to the majors had him comfortable by the time he exited the bullpen.
“It helps you get acclimated to the routine and how the day goes,” Fulmer said. “As a new guy, you kind of keep your head down and you just try to stay out of everybody’s way.
“Obviously, it helped me get acclimated to that and feel like I’m getting comfortable with how things kind of work. But I still have to continue to keep my head down and do my job.”