Jobe laments 'two pitches that really hurt me' in loss to Twins

MINNEAPOLIS – Recovery from major surgery is rarely a linear progression, especially in professional sports, when the guys in the other uniforms are doing their best to throw up road blocks and detours at every turn.

Jackson Jobe was reminded of that again on Monday, as the Twins tagged him for five runs (four earned) – including two home runs – over five innings in an 11-1 loss at Target Field.

In his fifth Major League start since recovering from Tommy John surgery, Jobe struggled in a few areas. Allowing two home runs and two walks, for example, but also allowing the leadoff hitter to reach in three of the first four innings. And in the fifth, an error by third baseman Hao-Yu Lee gave the Twins a free runner to start the inning.

That was one of two errors by the Tigers, who also struggled at the plate against Twins starter Taj Bradley, who struck out nine over seven innings. The Tigers also ended up with outfielder Zach McKinstry on the mound giving up the final two runs in the eighth inning.

“Tonight was a really bad night. So you can kind of pick any aspect, we got outplayed and it's a bad feeling going back to the hotel tonight after a game like that,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Across the board, we didn't do our jobs.”

The biggest plate appearance of the game came in the fifth inning, when Jobe and former Tiger Kody Clemens locked horns in a 12-pitch battle. Jobe threw his entire arsenal at Clemens, who had already homered in the fourth off a curveball that didn’t break. (“Curveballs up don't play very well in this league,” Jobe said after the game.)

Clemens fouled off eight pitches in the epic duel, including five four-seamers, two changeups and a slider. For 11 pitches, Jobe didn’t blink, matching Clemens at every turn. But the 12th pitch was a changeup that Clemens watched drift outside for ball four, putting runners on first and second with one out.

“It sucks to lose those, for sure,” said Jobe of the long battle.

Pitching coach Chris Fetter visited the mound after the walk, as much to give Jobe a breather as to offer any advice. But three pitches later, Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers turned on a high four-seamer and deposited it a Statcast-projected 420 feet away in the bleachers in left-center.

After the game, Jobe was focused on the two home run balls that got away from him.

“Two pitches really hurt me. Other than that … I felt pretty good,” he said. “I fell behind in some counts, but it's two pitches that really hurt me.”

The two pitches in question – a hanging curve and a high fastball – are ones that pitchers get beaten on every night around the league. But in terms of regaining full command of his arsenal, Jobe identified one specific pitch that he’s still trying to master again.

“Everything's just been different coming back from surgery. The change has been the one that I just haven't really been able to really find,” he said. “And yeah, it's just frustrating.”

Jobe’s return has been something of a roller coaster – he debuted with five scoreless innings against the Giants on Aug. 8, then gave up two homers and six runs in 3 2/3 innings against the White Sox. He followed that with two uneven starts in which he allowed just one earned run but walked three in each outing.

Now his task is to see what he can learn from this loss to the Twins before he makes his next start, presumably at Cleveland next weekend.

His manager has a few ideas of where Jobe can start – by simplifying his approach.

“He's got to grow up and learn and continue to battle and compete, and kind of get out of tinkering with the mechanics and trying to overdo things,” Hinch said. “You saw a lot of frustration from him when he wouldn’t execute. He’s going to learn to get to the next pitch, get to the next hitter, get to the next situation, and not have it compound on him. So I think it's more about him growing as a pitcher at this level and less about the recovery, but I'm sure he's working his way back to learn how to pitch again.”