What It Means:

"He’s making it exceedingly difficult for us to keep his innings down," said Ausmus. "If he keeps going nine, it’s not going to resolve itself." The 23-year-old rookie recorded his first complete game in the bigs on Sunday, as well as his first career shutout, in a victory over the Texas Rangers. Fulmer has logged 120 innings of work for Detroit this season, exceeding the 86 he threw at Triple-A Toledo in 2015, and setting a new career-high in the process. With over a month left in the regular season, the promising young right-hander will likely be sat for a scheduled start or two down the stretch.

Fulmer is pacing the American League with a 2.25 ERA, good for fourth in the majors. He's striking out 7.73 batters per nine innings on the year, while also recording a 21.73 strikeout percentage and 1.02 WHIP (eighth-best in MLB). Through 19 starts, he owns a 10-3 record.