Tigers place Michael Fulmer on disabled list with elbow injury

BALTIMORE – Michael Fulmer hopes a stint on the 10-day disabled list will provide him with the rest he needs to recover from a quirky, persistent elbow injury.

Fulmer, the 2016 A.L. rookie of the year, was placed on the DL by the Detroit Tigers on Thursday – mostly as a precaution.

An MRI revealed fluid around the elbow, but manager Brad Ausmus said there’s no ligament damage.

The Tigers are describing the injury as right elbow ulnar neuritis.

“It’s been for a few years that he’s had it,” Ausmus said. “It never affects his pitching whatsoever because it’s been the ring finger and the pinkie.”

Fulmer said he usually feels numbness after he pitches, but that changed during his last start on Monday.

“This is first time I have felt it during a game,” Fulmer said. “It only affected one pitch, the changeup. My stuff was still there, but obviously when you lose feeling in your fingers it’s not the best sign.”

“This is the most severe it’s been,” Ausmus said. “We want to make it more manageable.”

Fulmer expects his stay on the DL to be brief.

“Hopefully, I can take a week off and in 12 days be ready to pitch again,” he said.

Fulmer is 10-9 with a 3.58 ERA in 21 starts. He goes on the disabled list having accounted for more than one-fifth of Detroit’s wins this year.

He was supposed to start Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles. Ausmus has not decided who will start instead.

To fill out the roster, the Tigers selected the contract of right-hander Edward Mujica from Triple-A Toledo.

Mujica last pitched in the majors in 2015 with Oakland. The 10-year veteran has a lifetime record of 24-28 in 494 games. He compiled a 2.35 ERA in 46 appearances with Toledo.