It’s hard to believe that a week’s already passed since the trade that shocked major-league baseball happened, with the Detroit Tigers sending pitchers Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize away.
But a late-season contender for a starting ace might have revealed itself Saturday night, as Jackson Jobe made his first start of 2026 in his return from Tommy John surgery and began the game with five shutout innings en route to an 8-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
For those watching the Tigers on Fox on Saturday, it might’ve been the first time they’ve seen this squad since scrolling through social media and seeing that one of the best pitchers on the planet got sent to the World Series favorites in Los Angeles.
But if the Tigers were supposed to start losing and wait for next season, they’re playing like that message hasn’t been received yet.
Instead, the Tigers rode a 6-run seventh inning, keeping the San Francisco Giants bats silent for a dominant victory.
That seventh inning was built on the pressure and patience of the batting order in the sixth inning.
The Tigers loaded the bases that inning on three straight walks by Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp. When he was replaced by Keaton Winn, up came Spencer Torkelson.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 8, Giants 0
If this was the Torkelson of a few years ago, there would’ve been swings galore as dreams of that huge hit to open up the scoring might have led to a quick strikeout.
But not this time. Instead, Torkelson stayed patient. He didn’t find the pitch he wanted to rip, but instead took a five-pitch walk to anticlimactically, but efficiently score the first run of the game.
That’s all the Tigers got in the sixth but then came the seventh.
It got started with a lead-off ground rule double from Zach McKinstry, followed by a sharp single from Kevin McGonigle to score McKinstry. Then Dillon Dingler came through with a double of his own, a sharp liner down the left-field line to bring McGonigle home for a 3-0 lead.
And the hits kept coming. Riley Greene hit a single, then Eduardo Valencia got a hit to center field that got lost in Drew Gilbert’s vision for another double, scoring both Dingler and Greene. Max Clark then came up to the plate, getting another deep hit to score Valencia and hustling for a triple, the first of his major-league career.
Finally, Javier Báez hit a single to bring Clark home from third base. Just like that, the score was 7-0 and the Tigers never looked back.
This game felt like for the Tigers like the exact opposite of Friday night’s contest. After getting just two runs on eight hits, the Tigers scored seven from nine hits. After going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, they went 7-for-16.
But with Jackson Jobe’s performance Saturday, maybe fans will remember the promise that the player who just turned 24 a few days ago had.
Tommy John surgery might have taken away more than a year from Jobe’s career, but he walked onto the mound tonight in his first start since May 28, 2025, and didn’t look rusty.
His first strikeout came in the first inning, the last pitch a fastball hitting 100 mph. Through five innings, he’d get three more Ks, walking just one batter and allowing just one hit.
The control looked shaky at times, but then there were moments like Jobe striking out Rafael Devers in just three pitches, the last one a low change-up, when those watching remembered that Jobe finished last year with a 4-1 record despite his season ending barely two months in.
The bats needed time to warm up, and unlike Friday night when the Tigers had to claw from behind, Jobe’s smooth performance gave them enough time to find their rhythm.
Replacing Skubal or Mize isn’t the easiest task, but Jobe has continued to add on to a growing list of a youth movement that’s shown itself for the Tigers.
Now sitting at 57-60, just three games out of the AL Central lead and two games out of a wild-card spot, this season is far from over for this team that’s shown tremendous grit throughout the past few seasons.
Kameron Goodwill is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers blow out Giants with 6-run inning in Jackson Jobe’s 2026 debut
Reporting by Kameron Goodwill, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Kameron Goodwill, Special to The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
