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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
Four hundred sixty-six days. That's how long Jackson Jobe will have been away from a Major League mound before tasting, Saturday night, the adrenaline of a game that counts. The Detroit Tigers right-handed pitcher, third pick of the 2021 draft, was making his return from Tommy John surgery at Oracle Park in San Francisco. He left with an 8-0 victory and the certainty that his arm holds up.
The game, concluded by a collective shutout by the Tigers, turned in a six-run seventh inning. But the story of the night was written much earlier, over the five innings pitched by Jobe, where Giants hitters found only one hit and one walk.
The game, concluded by a collective shutout by the Tigers, turned in a six-run seventh inning.
Five innings, one hit
Jobe, 24, had not pitched in the Major Leagues since May 28, 2025. That night, already against the Giants, he had left the game after four innings in Detroit, with a sore elbow. The ulnar collateral ligament had given way. Tommy John surgery, that elbow reconstruction that frightens all pitchers, followed.
On Saturday, the Oklahoma native delivered a performance that reads like a manifesto: 97 pitches, a fastball still tickling 98 mph, a bewildering slider, and five strikeouts. The only hit allowed, a single by Willy Adames in the fourth inning, never threatened to turn into a run.
An offense that explodes late
Against an imperial Jobe, the Tigers' offense took time to find the key. Four scoreless innings, then a run in the fifth, another in the sixth. Nothing spectacular. And then the seventh. Six runs, a sudden explosion built on patience at the plate and constant pressure on the Giants' bullpen.
Dillon Dingler, Max Clark, and Kevin McGonigle, the young core of Detroit's rebuild, all contributed. Clark, another first-round pick (2023), was playing one of his first games in a Tigers uniform after being called up from the minors. The future, in Detroit, has the face of these kids who are not afraid.
A prospect turned pillar
Before his injury, Jobe had a record of 4 wins and 1 loss in 10 starts in 2024, with a 4.22 ERA. Respectable stats for a rookie, but they didn't do justice to his potential. His fastball, clocked at 100 mph during his spring training debut, makes him one of the most electric arms in the league.
With this successful return, the Tigers, hovering around the 50% win mark (56-60 before the game), can dream of a less anecdotal end to the season than expected. The American League Central division remains open, and a Jobe in full possession of his abilities radically changes the equation.
The right-hander's next start is expected late next week. In the meantime, the Detroit clubhouse savors what can only be called a new beginning. Literally and figuratively.