DETROIT -- Jackson Jobe worked like a madman for over a year, from the weight room to the back fields to the Minor Leagues, for a moment like Sunday.
When Jobe sent Rockies slugger Mickey Moniak chasing a 96.2 mph sinker off the plate for his career-high eighth strikeout of the afternoon, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch climbed the dugout steps and walked to the Comerica Park mound to grab the ball. Jobe wanted a chance to finish the inning, having pitched into the seventh for the first time in his Major League career. But at 87 pitches in his seventh start back from 2025 Tommy John surgery, he understood and expected the hook.
What he wasn’t necessarily expecting was the ovation he received, the crowd of 22,726 rising to its feet and loudly cheering him on his walk back to the dugout. It drowned out the noise of the Lions playing their season opener next door at Ford Field.
“They were getting after it,” Jobe said after the 8-1 win. “It was awesome.”
It was well-deserved for what Jobe put together, not just Sunday but in the process leading up to it.
“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 proving to himself and others that he's going to be a big part of this.”
This is the kind of pitcher the Tigers hope Jobe can become on a regular basis. On Sunday, while the Tigers taxed Rockies starter Gabriel Hughes for 70 pitches over two innings, Jobe didn’t cross the 70-pitch mark until the sixth. He faced a Rockies lineup stacked with left-handed hitters -- almost daring him to throw a changeup that was once his out pitch but has been a work in progress since his return -- and instead flummoxed them with breaking balls.
Jobe’s slider, a harder pitch than the high-spin version he used to throw, drew five whiffs on eight swings. His curveball, which averaged just shy of 86 mph after he tinkered with it playing catch a couple weeks, drew six whiffs in nine swings.
“It’s a great pitch,” catcher Dillon Dingler said of the curve. “Obviously we have two plus spin pitches that we can use to either get into counts or punch guys out, but that’s the best part about it. You’re not sticking with opening with it or finishing with it. You just have to try to find different avenues that fit and see what he’s landing.”
Jobe allowed just three hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit in between Adael Amador’s first-inning solo homer and TJ Rumfield’s seventh-inning single was a Vimael Machín ground-ball single through the right side with two outs in the second. Dingler picked him off two pitches later.
It was the latest sign of Jobe's adaptability to work with what he’s got to beat an opponent. The Tigers’ early outburst against Hughes had long since put the game in Detroit’s control, but Jobe’s efficient stinginess ensured the Tigers, to use a football term, dominated time of possession.
“We have a ton of belief in him,” Hinch said, “and he demonstrated why today. I mean, he's electric, and when he can put it all together in one start, that can be a building block. He's more than equipped to be very, very good at this level, and I'm glad that he showcased it today in a game that could easily have been a sleepy game.”
Jobe’s first win since his first start of the season on Aug. 8 was arguably the best start of his career. The Tigers will watch his pitch count over the final two weeks of the regular season, during which he’ll likely get three more starts. But steps like Sunday are a major investment towards putting Jobe in line to help lead the Tigers’ rotation in 2027 alongside Troy Melton, Framber Valdez, Keider Montero and potentially Drew Anderson.
It’s why an ovation like Sunday is even better.
“It’s huge,” Jobe said. “I know this has not been the season that everyone expected, but for me to come out and have a little bit of success [after] obviously missing a bit of time, and have fan support despite everything that’s happened this year, it means a lot to me. I definitely appreciate it.”