Micheal Fulmer pitched himself into Cy Young contention Sunday afternoon with a shutout against the Texas Rangers. Fulmer dominated the AL West leaders, allowing four hits and no walks while he struck out nine. He lowered his ERA to 2.25. He now pitched enough innings to qualify for the AL ERA title by over half a run. He picks up 6.4 Tom Tango Cy Young tracker points, which will put him within four points of AL lead Cole Hamels. I could be a multiple award year for the Detroit rookie The Tigers win 7-0.
And Tiger fans need to thank Dave Dombrowski for his closing act last year. Matt Boyd and Fulmer threw back to back shutouts of the Rangers. Both were deadline acquisitions last year, Boyd as part of the David Price deal (along with Monday’s starter Daniel Norris); Fulmer for Cespedes. Sometimes what looks like a move toward rebuilding also becomes the short term fix.