After overcoming two Tommy John surgeries, lefty Dax Fulton provided four gritty innings of relief, offering a taxed Miami bullpen vital reinforcement despite a tough loss to Baltimore.
MIAMI — The Miami Marlins have been juggling rookie relievers during their 10-game homestand.
Given the need for fresh arms to keep the bullpen from being overly taxed during a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, the Marlins have called up three relievers from Triple-A Jacksonville to make their Major League debut. The latest hurler to get his feet wet in the Show was left-hander Dax Fulton.
Fulton came into the sixth inning for starting pitcher Eury Pérez and pitched the final four innings of the Marlins 7-4 loss against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Fulton allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference that Fulton “did a great job” in his big league debut.
“Congrats to Dax for really taking down four innings for us and allow us to give everybody a bit of a reset down there and also keeping us within striking distance where we had a chance to come back in this game.”
Fulton started his debut with back-to-back walks in the sixth inning, but got out of his jam with two strikeouts and a groundout.
“I thought he spun the ball pretty well, his changeup going, threw some good heaters,” McCullough said.
The Orioles eventually got to Fulton with an RBI double by Adley Rutschman and an RBI triple by Blaze Alexander to tack on two runs late in the game
“Big league pitching is extremely tough every single night,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said after Tuesday’s game.
Fulton was picked after Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer as their second round draft pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of high school in Oklahoma City, OK. He was expected to join Meyer in the Marlins rotation around this time until two Tommy John surgeries nearly derailed his career.
“Just keep pushing,” Fulton said after Tuesday’s game. “Whatever comes at you, whatever gets thrown at you, just keep going. You’ll get there as long as you have perseverance. I’m just glad to be here.”
Fulton spent most of his minor league career as a starting pitcher. In seven appearances (5 starts) at Triple-A Jacksonville this season, Fulton has posted a 7.65 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 20 innings. His 412 career strikeouts in 353.1 innings gave him the profile for potential use out of the bullpen, which he said is “the same mindset.”
“Go up there and get guys out,” Fulton said. “Whether it’s five or six innings as a starter or two or three innings out of the bullpen, whatever they need from me, I’m going to do everything I can to help the team.”
The Marlins will likely need to decide between Fulton and Josh Ekness (No. 30 prospect), who has yet to give up a run in his first two appearances as a big leaguer. The Marlins will call up No. 2 prospect Robby Snelling on Friday to start against the Washington Nationals.
The Marlins will try to avoid being swept for the second time this season on Thursday with Meyer (2-0, 2.68 ERA) on the mound against Baltimore lefty Cade Povich (1-1, 4.41 ERA).
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