Jobe has wobbly outing in second start back from Tommy John surgery

DETROIT -- Tommy John surgery has had incredible advancements since its namesake pitcher had the first such procedure in 1974, allowing pitchers to not only resume their career but do so with much of their same arsenal. But one thing that hasn’t changed: The first year back can be a test of patience as much as endurance.

The Tigers saw it two years ago with Casey Mize, whose first season back after two years shelved was such a wild ride that he didn’t throw a pitch that postseason, left out of the Detroit’s pitching chaos strategy. Friday was a reminder that Jackson Jobe is not immune.

Just as Jobe’s five scoreless innings last weekend in San Francisco didn’t make him the next Tarik Skubal, Jobe’s nightmarish five-run fourth inning in Friday’s 9-5 loss to the White Sox doesn’t make him the next washed-up former first-round Draft pick. It just makes him the latest pitcher to ride the post-rehab roller coaster. Jobe filling a rotation spot that opened after the Skubal and Mize trades, during the stretch run of a playoff chase, doesn’t change that.

“There's no excuse,” Jobe said. “I'm up here to perform, not to work on stuff or say I'm just coming back from TJ. The team needed me and I didn't do my job, but I know they'll pick me up the next few days.”

Jobe’s first pitch of the night was a 99.3 mph fastball to Sam Antonacci, according to Statcast. His eighth pitch registered at exactly 100 mph to Miguel Vargas. It was the same heat Jobe brought to hitters before his surgery in June 2025, and it’s not necessarily a surprise that he has it back now. Pitchers often regain velocity quickly after they return, and Jobe was throwing up to 101 mph during his Minor League rehab assignment.

Command is often another issue. And even as Jobe’s velocity lit up Comerica Park’s giant video board behind him, his command flashed warning signs. His second pitch of the night, the one after the 99 mph fastball, was a back-foot slider that hit Antonacci’s back foot, putting the leadoff man on first base.

Jobe went to the curveball on his next pitch and hit slugger Munetaka Murakami on his back foot, too, as catcher Dillon Dingler lunged across the plate to try to get to the ball.

“It was just frustrating,” Jobe said. “I didn't even think the first one was all that bad of a pitch, ended up getting him.”

Jobe nearly escaped the self-inflicted jam, including an impressive three-pitch sequence of two-seamer, curveball and changeup to fan Andrew Benintendi for the second out. But after a 99 mph first-pitch strike to Braden Montgomery, Jobe had three pitches well out of the zone. He landed a slider on the corner to run the count full, but three consecutive 99 mph fastballs couldn’t finish off Montgomery, who lined the third one into left field for an RBI single.

That set a tone.

“Location is really key,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I don't think anybody in this league, short of maybe one or two fastballs, can just grip it and rip it and hope for the best. I mean, [velocities] have trended up across the whole league, and that ends up bringing everybody's sightline to be able to handle it. And I know it's a big number, but when you get to the upper 90s, I'm not saying it's common, but it's more common than it has been the last decade.

“So location always is going to matter, and I think that's part of Jackson’s development is going to be throwing it where he wants. That's what makes it more effective.”

Jobe regrouped and took the mound for the fourth protecting a 3-1 lead but at 49 pitches, about two-thirds of the way toward his pitch count for the night. Then came the barrage.

Chase Meidroth laid off three sliders out of the zone and hit a 98 mph heater just off the plate for a leadoff single. Tristan Peters got a first-pitch 97 mph fastball over the plate and crushed it for a two-run homer. Jobe didn’t need his fastball to retire Drew Romo and fan Antonacci, but three breaking balls below the zone created a 3-0 count to Murakami. Jobe’s get-me-over 97 mph fastball was sent over the fence for Murakami’s 27th homer of the year.

Vargas doubled on a curveball. Benintendi laid off non-fastballs and walked. Montgomery crushed a 2-0 fastball to the deepest part of right-center for a 418-foot, two-run triple and the end of Jobe’s night.

“They were definitely making him command his offspeed,” Dingler said. “He barely missed on some of them.”