White Sox beat Blue Jays 4-3; Fulmer looks good in first regular season outing

Throw away spring training. Throw away all of those awful numbers Carson Fulmer accounted for before the season. None of it counted.

Fans saw the 2017 September Fulmer in tonight’s 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

He had better command of his pitches, walking only one batter in his five innings pitched. The Blue Jays did square up some baseballs and hit into a few loud outs, but overall, Fulmer showed some promising signs.

His cutter, which was used effectively tonight, is unhittable to lefthanders if he can keep it under their hands. It stays a strike for so long and moves in on lefties’ hands at the last second. It’s a pitch that fans should see more often if Fulmer maintains the fifth spot in the rotation.

That’s a solid lineup Fulmer kept quiet tonight. He was responsible for three earned runs, but could have easily been two if it weren’t for Adam Engel’s dropped ball in center field that was ruled a hit. A questionable call from the scorekeeper, if I do say myself.

The Sox got on the board in the second inning when Matt Davidson hit his fourth home run of the season. Davidson got his hands in and yanked it down the left-field line for the early 1-0 lead.

Things remained calm — until one of the most chaotic innings you will see.

Yoan Moncada hit a high fly ball to deep left field with bases loaded in the fifth inning. Curtis Granderson jumped up at the wall and appeared to have knocked the ball with his mitt into the air. As Granderson fell to the ground, the ball followed right into his mitt. On the field, the call was ruled an out.

The umps reviewed the play and overturned the call, saying that the ball hit the wall first, and granted Moncada with an RBI single. Welington Castillo got bailed out by the call, because he initially did not tag up to score, for some unknown reason.

Avisail Garcia then got plunked on the next pitch to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.

Adding to the craziness was Aaron Sanchez’s complaining to home plate umpire Greg Gibson. Sanchez seemed upset that Gibson rushed him to get his warmup pitches in before ... time was up? Not sure what was going on there, but Sanchez was fired up.

Toronto rallied back to tie the game 3-3, but in the eighth inning, Jose Abreu smoked a 3-0 pitch into someone’s entree in the restaurant in left-center field. Yeah, when the Sox hit home runs this year, they don’t miss them.

The bullpen looked completely different than last night, covering the final 12 outs without giving up a run.

Nate Jones did not give up a hit or a walk, but was hit the hardest out of all the relievers. A lineout and an impressive grab from defensive replacement Leury Garcia in left field helped Jones avoid trouble.

Joakim Soria came in and threw a solid, clean ninth for his second save of the season. He didn’t allow any baserunner, and added an eephus pitch to his repertoire.

The Sox could have put this game out of hand multiple times, but went 1-for-5 with men in scoring position and bounced into four double plays.

But forget that ... it’s time for the White Sox home opener in mid-40s weather tomorrow!