Jackson Jobe threw a fairly good game on Saturday, matching his career high strikeouts. Unfortunately, the White Sox capitalized on their opportunities, while the Tigers had traffic all game long but couldn’t cash in their chances. They dropped the third of four on the south side by a 3-1 margin, and will look to split the series on Sunday.
Saturday’s matchup featured RHP Sean Burke against RHP Jackson Jobe. The game was originally a night game, but fears of rain this evening prompted them to move
the game up to a 2:10 p.m. ET start.
Burke struck out Hao-Yu Lee and Colt Keith in a 1-2-3 top of the first. Jobe locked up Kyle Teel with a sinker that dropped just into the top of the zone for the second out in the bottom of the first. However, he walked Miguel Vargas, who promptly stole second pretty easily. Facing the dangerous Munetaka Murakami, Jobe got weak contact with a breaking ball, but the slugger blooped one in just in front of Brett Callahan in left, and Vargas scored to make it 1-0. A perfect back foot slider whiffed Andrew Benintendi to end the inning.
A sharp one-out single from Dillon Dingler in the top of the second gave the Tigers an opportunity to develop. That came to an abrupt end instead when Max Clark grounded one up the middle and into a double play ball to end the frame.
Jobe blew away Colson Montgomery with high heat and then whiffed Chase Meidroth with a good changeup. Braden Montgomery grounded out to end the second inning. Still 1-0 White Sox.
Burke was still cruising in the top of the third. Ben Malgeri struck out and Callahan and John Peck both made routine outs on the balls in play. Jobe was spotting his stuff pretty well, and he got the first two outs of the bottom half quickly, but Kyle Teel pulled a pretty routine grounder to first and Keith booted it. Fortunately, that only extended the inning for one pitch as Vargas flew out just short of the warning track in left. On to the fourth inning.
Kevin McGonigle was up first in the top of the fourth, and in a 1-1 count, Burke drew a pitch clock violation call. Will Venable wanted some clarification on that one, delaying the at-bat for a minute, but it stuck. McGonigle grounded out to Vargas at third, making that a moot point. Hao-Yu Lee, fresh off his monster four-hit performance on Friday night, lined a first pitch slider into center field for a single. Keith flew out to left, but Riley Greene pulled a single into right. Lee was caught dancing off first and hesitated a moment on the ball in play, so he only got to second base. Dingler ripped a ground ball to the pull side, but Vargas made a nice forehand pick on the one-hopper and retired him to end the threat.
Jobe whiffed Benintendi and Murakami with good back foot sliders to start the bottom half. The breaking stuff is really coming along, and he threw some good changeups as well early on. Montgomery battled through a nine-pitch at-bat but Jobe got him on a curveball fouled tipped into the glove for his seventh strikeout. This is looking very promising folks. A surprising lack of whiffs has dogged Jobe’s early major league work, but he’s racking them up now with a really nasty six-pitch mix.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Burke clipped Malgeri in the wrist on a 3-2 pitch. Callahan ripped a sharp single to center field, and the Tigers were in business with one out. Teel missed a 2-2 challenge on a high fastball, making it 3-2, and Burke walked him to load the bases. That brought McGonigle to the dish in a key spot.
Burke was nibbling a bit and fell behind 2-1, but McGonigle got a mashable heater and fouled it off. Another curveball missed to drive the count full and there was nowhere to put him. McGonigle lifted a 3-2 pitch to left for a sacrifice fly to score Malgeri and tie the game 1-1. Burke’s pitch count had been in excellent shape, but was now suddenly spiraling, and he had to face Hao-Yu Lee with runners on first and second. Burke fell behind, but Lee fouled off a pair of high fastballs and a good curveball got the whiff to turn the Tigers away. But, the ballgame was now tied up 1-1.
So we had ourselves a tie game, and Jobe started the bottom of the fifth at 66 pitches. Meidroth flew out, but Montgomery fouled off some tough pitches. He eventually got himself a sinker and banged it off the left field wall for a double. Brenton Doyle flicked a single to left off the end of the bat, and it was first and third with one out. Sam Antonacci flew out to left, but deep enough to get Montgomery home as Callahan threw in to second to hold Doyle at first. 2-1 White Sox. Teel flew out to Clark in center to end the inning on Jobe’s 80th pitch.
Riley Greene singled with one out in the top of the sixth. Dingler flew out, and Burke fell behind Clark 3-0. The right-hander spotted a fastball at the top of the zone to make it 3-1, and a good cutter got a whiff to push the count full. Another cutter missed away to walk him. Teel wasted the White Sox last challenge on a pitch that wasn’t very close, and so Malgeri dug in with two on and two out. The Sox had lefty Noah Schultz just starting to warm up while Burke fell behind again 3-0. Malgeri took a fastball to make it 3-1, and fouled the next one back, but Burke missed again, walking him to load the bases.
Venable and company were late to get the bullpen cooking, and so Burke stayed in to face Callahan. A 2-1 breaking ball drew a big whiff, but bounced away from Teel and Greene read it perfectly and scored from third. The White Sox challenged the play, and we saw that the ball had nicked Callahan’s back foot, and so the run didn’t count and it was 2-2 to Callahan. He fouled off another big curveball out of the zone, and the Tigers rookie took the next one and it dropped into the top of the zone to strand the bases loaded. Callahan’s aggressiveness got him there, as both curveballs he fouled off were balls inside.
Jobe had a long break in that inning, and the first pitch he threw was a slider to Vargas that got punished to left field for a solo shot. 3-1 White Sox.
Jacob Waguespack and Tyler Holton got up and warming in the Tigers’ pen as Jobe’s 86th pitch got a ground out from Murakami. He whiffed Benintendi again on a good slider for his eighth punch out and got Montgomery with a changeup to wrap up the inning.
6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 9 K isn’t the greatest line of all-time, but all through the minor leagues and the beginning of his major league career, Jobe was still feeling for the optimal shapes for his breaking stuff. The whiffs were always a little light considering his velocity and spin rates. They’ve made excellent progress in both shape and command, and now Jobe looks more likely to reach his frontline starter ceiling than not. His 16 whiffs in this one tied his career high.
Schultz took over in the top of the seventh, facing Peck, who struck out. The big lefty was pumping high 90’s heat with a nasty sweeper-cutter combo away from lefties. McGonigle was unphased, lining a single to right field. That was 256 times reaching base for McGonigle, one of the all-time best marks for a rookie.
Hao-Yu Lee bit on a cutter and struck out, and AJ Hinch turned to Spencer Torkelson hitting for Keith and taking over at first. Schultz tied him up with a good cutter and then spun in another one for strike three to end that at-bat, and we were on to the bottom of the seventh.
Waguespack took over from Jobe, and quickly hit Chase Meidroth. He bounced right back to coax a double play ball from Montgomery, and locked up Doyle with a high curveball for a pretty snappy inning. The strikeouts aren’t really there for Waguespack, and he has been hit hard at times, but outing for outing, he continues to give the Tigers quality innings.
Schultz missed 2-2 to Riley Greene to start the eighth, but it was a strike and the White Sox couldn’t challenge. The next pitch was a heater that sailed inside and clipped the Tigers’ outfielder to put the leadoff man on. Schultz punched out Dingler on three pitches. Max Clark wanded a 2-2 breaking ball and dumped a single into right field to amplify the threat, while closer Grant Taylor was warming in the Sox bullpen. Schultz jammed Malgeri with a cutter first pitch, and he popped out on the infield. Eduardo Valencia entered to pinch-hit for Callahan, and this felt like the whole ballgame right here as Venable countered with Taylor to get a right-on-right matchup. He did the job, jamming Valencia and getting a bouncer to first. The Tigers had now left 10 men on base in this one.
Waguespack tied up Antonacci with a changeup for a ground out to first, starting the bottom of the eighth. Zach McKinstry took over for Valenica, playing right field. Another good changeup whiffed Kyle Teel as the veteran right-hander continued to make his case for a return engagement with the Tigers in 2027. They avoided Vargas entirely, walking him on four straight, but now faced Murakami, who whiffed on another good changeup to strike out and send this to the ninth.
Peck was up first against the White Sox’s closer, and grounded out to shortstop. McGonigle grounded out as well, and that left it up to Lee. He fought off some triple digit heat from Taylor and then grounded a curveball for a single to keep the game alive for Torkelson. Taylor fell behind 2-0, but dropped in a curve and then got a whiff with the slider to even the count. Another slider was lifted out to Doyle in left center field, and that was that.
The White Sox creep back a half game behind the Cleveland Guardians, who play later tonight. The Tigers? Well, let’s just enjoy the final week of baseball. The story of the series so far has been trouble driving runners in, as the Tigers have 32 hits to the White Sox 16. They just haven’t made enough of them count.
White Sox 3, Tigers 1: Box Score
Ichiro did not take it easy in what was supposed to be a fun exhibition against the Japanese top high school girl’s baseball team earlier this week. Apparently girl’s hardball is rapidly becoming more popular in the land of the rising sun, and I approve. Anyway, we needed some levity after this one.
