With the first complete game of his career, a 7-0 shutout against the Texas Rangers, Michael Fulmer has done more than just position himself as the frontrunner for the American League Rookie of the Year.

The 23-year-old pitcher gave up just four hits, struck out nine and walked none in the Detroit Tigers' victory in Arlington. That start also qualified him for the ERA title on Sunday and, as of Sunday night, he’s pacing the rest of the competition in the American League with an ERA of 2.25. He is the first rookie in the American League to reach 10 wins this season and he is also the first pitcher in the AL with six outings of at least six scoreless innings, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

The Tigers are 16-3 when the Oklahoma City native takes the mound and the former first-round draft pick became the first Tigers rookie to record a shutout since Justin Verlander accomplished the feat in 2006. In front of an abundance of friends and family and against a dynamic Rangers lineup, Fulmer retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced during Sunday’s matinee -- a victory that sealed a series win for the Tigers against their AL West-leading foes.

Michael Fulmer tossed the first complete game of his career to lead the Tigers past the Rangers, 7-0, Sunday. AP Photo/Mike Stone

And Fulmer wasn’t the only young player getting the job done for Detroit in Texas. Just one night prior it was 25-year-old lefty Matt Boyd who pitched the best game of his major-league career thus far, blanking the Rangers in seven scoreless innings, during which he surrendered just a pair of hits en route to a 2-0 Tigers win that snapped a five-game losing streak. Boyd has now gone 4-0 since July and has posted an impressive 2.16 ERA during that span, according to ESPN Stats & Info research.

The uptick in performance could not have come at a better time for Detroit, a team reeling from injuries that have decimated both their position players -- notably Nick Castellanos (hand), Jose Iglesias (hamstring) and Cameron Maybin (thumb) -- and their pitchers. The Tigers are currently without two of their starting five in the rotation, with both Jordan Zimmermann (neck) and Mike Pelfrey (back) on the disabled list.

Those absences were glaring as the Tigers stumbled to start a seven-game road trip, but the pair of youngsters picked the team up to keep the club within striking distance of the Boston Red Sox, who trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday 16-2 to retain a 1.5-game lead on the AL’s second wild-card spot.

“Probably not how you would have written it up, with two rookies going for us, but they both did an outstanding job. Boyd and Fulmer, they’re the reason we won these last two games,” manager Brad Ausmus told reporters.

Following Sunday’s victory, the Tigers return to Detroit to begin a seven-game homestand, beginning Monday with a series against a divisional rival in the Kansas City Royals. And who will be on the mound? Another youngster in 23-year-old southpaw Daniel Norris.

Norris will make his second start since returning from a midseason oblique injury that cost him over a month. In his last start, he gave up seven hits but held the Seattle Mariners to just one run in five innings during the club’s dramatic 15-inning walk-off loss on Tuesday. He has not thrown more than five innings in a big-league start yet this season, but the Tigers are hoping he can summon some inspiration from the turns that both Fulmer and Boyd provided in back-to-back shutout performances over the weekend.

Norris will square off against Ian Kennedy, who has not won a start since June 26 despite the fact that he’s experiencing increased success using his fastball this season. According to ESPN Stats & Info research, Kennedy is averaging 92 mph on the pitch this season -- the hardest he has thrown in the past eight seasons -- and opponents are batting just .202 against it, which is the second-lowest average among qualifying MLB pitchers behind Chicago’s Jake Arrieta.

The Royals enter the series at Comerica Park trailing the Tigers by six games in the AL standings, sitting 7.5 games back of the second wild card spot. And though Detroit has been sparked by strong pitching of late, that doesn’t change the fact that the Tigers remain hobbled with a myriad of key injuries that has them struggling to fill the voids created in the lineup by the losses of Castellanos at third base, Iglesias at shortstop and Maybin in center field.

Fulmer and Boyd stepped up this weekend to stop the bleeding of a road trip threatening to go awry. And with nine runs scored in their past two games, will the offense be able to keep the ball rolling once the World Series Champs come to visit?