CHICAGO — Carson Fulmer doesn’t know if his future with the Chicago White Sox is as a starting pitcher or a reliever.
Either way, the 23-year-old rookie will be happy to have Jose Abreu on his side.
Abreu connected for two home runs a day after hitting for the cycle and Fulmer earned his first major league win as a starter as the White Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Sunday in an interleague matchup of last-place teams.
Fulmer (2-1) allowed one run on three hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in the second start of his career. A first-round draft pick in 2015, he was tagged for six earned runs in 1 1/3 innings by Minnesota on Aug. 21 in his other start.
“Starting, relieving, as long as we win it’s all that matters to me,” Fulmer said. “You just have to be able to go into any situation and get your team out of it. I like to start games and go as long as I can, but that’s up to (manager) Ricky (Renteria) and our management.”
A day after hitting for the cycle in a 13-1 victory over the Giants, Abreu recorded his fourth multihomer game of the season and 10th of his four-year major league career.
Abreu had 18 total bases the last two games; the Giants had 14.
“This is as consistent an approach as I’ve seen from anybody in the big leagues,” Renteria said. “He really, really continues to stay focused and in the zone.”
Tim Anderson, who was a double shy of joining Abreu as the only pair of teammates ever to hit for the cycle in the same game on Saturday, got three more hits. The 24-year-old shortstop is batting .520 (13 for 25) in the last six games.
Bumgarner (3-8) gave up six earned runs and 10 hits in five innings — the most runs and hits he’s allowed in a game this season.
“I felt pretty good, honestly,” Bumgarner said. “That’s the frustrating part about it. I felt really good right from the get-go.”
Jarrett Parker hit his third home run of the season in the second inning for the Giants. He missed the previous seven games with a strained oblique.
SURPRISE CALL
Chris Volstad made his first White Sox appearance, pitching a scoreless ninth.
The 30-year-old right-hander spent the season with Triple-A Charlotte and was in Florida helping his family prepare for Hurricane Irma when he got the call from the White Sox on Thursday night.
“Surprised is a good word,” Volstad said. “I had already been at home just kind of gearing up for an offseason, I guess, and got the call. Obviously very excited and glad to be here and help out any way I can.”
Volstad pitched for four teams in seven seasons but had not pitched in the major leagues since appearing in one games for Pittsburgh in 2015.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: Parker (strained left oblique) returned to the lineup at designated hitter following a seven-game absence. Manager Bruce Bochy said Parker is still not quite ready to play the field. “He could be good to go tomorrow,” Bochy said.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Chris Stratton (2-3, 4.10 ERA) will oppose Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda (12-6, 4.02 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series in San Francisco. Stratton is 2-2 with a 3.15 ERA in six starts. Maeda has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 46-7 since Aug. 1.
White Sox: RHP Reynaldo Lopez (0-3, 4.84 ERA) will attempt to make his third straight quality start as the White Sox open a three-game series against Kansas City Royals RHP Jason Hammel (8-10, 4.73 ERA) on Monday. Lopez pitched six innings of one-run ball in a 3-0 loss to the red-hot Cleveland Indians on Wednesday. Hammel pitched at least six innings in each of his last five starts and at least five innings in his last 18.
