A game is rarely lost three pitches into a start.
But for Detroit Tigers starter Jackson Jobe, that may have been the case Friday, Aug. 14.
The Tigers lost 9-5 to the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park in Detroit. Jobe gave up six earned runs in 3⅔ innings, five alone in a fourth inning that feature two home runs and a two-run triple.
But the seeds to that blowup inning were planted at the feet of Chicago’s batters in the first inning.
Following a first-pitch fastball for a strike to left fielder Sam Antonacci, Jobe hit Antonacci in the foot with a wayward slider, a call that was upheld after the Tigers challenged.
On the very next pitch, Jobe hit slugging first baseman Munetaka Murakami – again in the foot, again with a breaking ball – putting two runners on base three pitches into the game.
No, the game was not literally over at that point, especially since the White Sox managed just one run in the inning on a two-out RBI single from right fielder Braden Montgomery. But as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch explained after the game, those two hit-by-pitches set up the career-worst outing for his third-year pitcher.
“I think that got [Jobe] into a little bit of a defensive mode,” Hinch said. “It just didn’t look like he had his location from the get-go, obviously, he hit two guys in the foot to start the game.”
And it didn’t get any better from there for the righty.
How White Sox attacked Jackson Jobe
The White Sox batters locked in on Jobe’s fastball and ignored everything else, swinging at 20 fastballs compared to 13 combined of his slider, changeup and curveball throughout his 74-pitch start.
And when Jobe put his fastball over the plate, like he did several times during the five-run fourth inning, the White Sox punished it with home runs from Murakami and center fielder Tristan Peters, plus hits from Braden Montgomery and second baseman Chase Meidroth.
“They took advantage of some bad locations and they put up good offense tonight,” Hinch said. “Everybody can talk about shape and spin and all the things that everybody works on every time they throw a baseball. At the end of the day, pitching is about being able to locate your stuff. And at this level, in this lineup, it gets punished when you don’t.”
In fairness to Jobe, he wasn’t the only pitcher the high-powered White Sox offense tagged Friday. Third baseman Miguel Vargas (who hit a double against Jobe in the fourth on an off-speed pitch) hit a home run in the sixth inning off lefty reliever Enmanuel De Jesus and then hit another solo home run off Ty Madden in the eighth.
Home runs are something the White Sox do well, with Murakami, Vargas and Colson Montgomery the only trio of teammates in MLB with at least 25 home runs in 2026.
But even then, there didn’t seem to be alignment between Hinch and Jobe on what went wrong on Friday.
Mixed explanations for career-worst outing
Jobe didn’t point to the first two hit batters as a reason for his struggles Friday, saying he was surprised the White Sox batters jumped on his fastball.
“Up until the last inning, I think I was doing fine. Just ran into some traffic pretty much every inning that probably ended up taking a toll on me,” he said. “But there’s no excuse for it. I gotta be better and I will be better.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler didn’t think Jobe missed on many of his fastballs, but he credited the White Sox hitters for their aggressive approach against the hard-throwing righty.
“They were definitely making him command his off-speed [pitches],” he said. “They challenged a couple pitches that were close, and you feel like you have to get back into counts, and that’s when they attacked his fastball.”
Jobe’s four-seam fastball has been a curiosity for the Tigers since his MLB debut in September 2024. Regularly sitting in the high-90s (and even hitting 100 mph in the first inning on Friday), it’s a pitch that should be more effective but was one of his worst by Statcast’s run value (minus-2) in 2025. He has thrown the pitch more than 40% of the time in two starts in 2026 – up from 31% in 2025 – to great effectiveness in his first start of the season against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 8, and then to great punishment in his second start against the White Sox.
But Hinch doubled down on his first-inning theory, referencing the hit-by-pitches as the catalyst to Chicago’s offensive onslaught.
“I would argue that the two sliders to start the game really do impact you creating locations of where you’re going to throw your pitches and he scrambled from then,” Hinch said.
What’s next for Jackson Jobe
Jobe is just two starts into his comeback from a lengthy absence while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the Tigers don’t have much time to ramp up the former No. 3 overall pick for a pennant chase.
Jobe said he may have been fatigued through an extended fourth inning, but didn’t excuse it and said he wasn’t good enough.
“Didn’t execute when I needed to, fell behind in counts in that last inning, and just got away from me,” he said postgame at his locker.
The Tigers may need a healthy and productive Jobe to stand out in a competitive American League playoff race, especially if the bash-happy White Sox stand between them and October.
But while Jobe understands the stakes, he also knows the Tigers’ 2026 postseason hopes don’t all fall on him.
“I’m up here to perform, not to work on stuff or say I’m just coming back from [Tommy John surgery],” he said. “The team needed me and I didn’t do my job, but I know they’ll pick me up the next few days.”
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jackson Jobe’s nightmare start for Tigers began with first few pitches
Reporting by Christian Romo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Christian Romo, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
