For the first time in his major league career as a starting pitcher, Detroit Tigers right-hander Jackson Jobe stood on the mound in the seventh inning.
Jobe made the longest start of his short MLB career in the Tigers' (70-79) 8-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, Sept. 13
. Jobe ended his day by striking out Colorado right fielder Mickey Moniak on a sinker for the first out in the seventh before manager A.J. Hinch pulled him.Jobe's eighth and final punchout also set a career high for strikeouts in a single appearance. He exited the mound to a standing ovation. Jobe gave up one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in 6⅓ innings.
"It felt really good," Jobe said. "Definitely a confidence booster. I feel like I am starting to find my groove
a little bit. Ding [catcher Dillon Dingler] called a great game, so that makes it easy, for sure."
Sunday marked Jobe's seventh start since returning from Tommy John surgery. His recovery took over 12 months, sapping him of most of 2025 and 2026, before returning on Aug. 8 against the San Francisco Giants.
The return has been up and down through his first six starts, with Jobe sporting a 1-2 record and 4.45 ERA entering Sunday's start. But the 23-year-old's execution made his velocity and pitch movement shine against the lowly Rockies (55-94). The start showcased some of the talent that made Jobe the top pitching prospect while he rose through the minor leagues.
"He has it in there, and he was able to land pretty much everything," Hinch said. "There was some spray a little bit and he went from throwing a ton of first-pitch strikes to not throwing a ton of first-pitch strikes, but overall he stayed aggressive and he stayed mostly unpredictable."
The Rockies stacked their batting order with nine left-handed hitters to maintain the matchup advantage against Jobe. Before the game, Hinch said his young pitcher "better find" his changeup, an effective pitch in opposite-handed matchups.
Jobe only threw seven changeups out of his 87 pitches. He has found a feel and comfort with the rest of his arsenal since coming back from surgery, but his changeup has still eluded him. In the final at-bat against Moniak, he picked up his lone swing-and-miss on a changeup.
"It is just going to take a little bit of time to get it all together," Jobe said. "But I mean, all of my other stuff is really good, and you are never going to have all of your stuff, also. It's just a part of pitching."
Jobe was still efficient and effective thanks to his two breaking-ball pitches, the curveball and slider. Jobe threw 18 sliders and picked up five whiffs on eight Rockies swings. His curveball, which he threw 16 times, picked up six whiffs on nine tries.
Jobe also increased usage on his sinker and his new pitch, a cutter, after Rockies second baseman Adael Amador scored the lone Colorado run with a solo homer off a four-seam fastball in the game's second at-bat.
"We threw more sinkers than we anticipated because the reaction I was getting on the sinker was pretty good," Jobe said. "Threw some pretty good ones behind in the count, and we were just able to keep them off balance. Credit to Ding. He truly called a good game."
Jobe planned on adding the cutter to his arsenal in the offseason but wanted another solution when behind in counts. Jobe threw six cutters on Sunday after having a 1% usage rate with the pitch in his first six starts.
"It gives me another option to throw behind in counts instead of grooving four-seamers in there, which happened again today," Jobe said.
Jobe will likely make two more starts in 2026, providing him more opportunities to grow, but Sunday's start was a big step.
"It should feel like a sense of accomplishment," Hinch said. "I think there's a lot that comes with the path that he's traveled, whether it's the burst on the scene as a huge prospect in the middle of a pennant race, to now working his way through injury. And now, he's proving to himself and others that he's going to be a big part of this.
"We have a ton of belief in him, and he demonstrated why today."
ContactJared Ramsey at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Career-best start a confidence booster for Tigers RHP Jackson Jobe
