11 months ago
Jackson Jobe gets first MLB win, Tigers top Twins to take fourth straight series
Minneapolis — There’s been a photo making the rounds on social media platforms of a 3-year-old Jackson Jobe, in a caddy uniform at The Masters at Augusta National, caddying for his PGA pro dad Brandt at the annual Par 3 contest.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch, an avid and proficient golfer himself, just shook his head.
“I’ve never been to Augusta,” Hinch said. “I’m very jealous Jackson was there as a 3-year-old and I have yet to make it as a 50-year-old. Hat tip to him for accomplishing more in life than me on the golf set.”
Jobe on Saturday accomplished something else his manager never has — he earned his first big-league pitcher win.
The rookie right-hander turned in by far his best outing of his young career, limiting the Twins to two hits over six scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory at Target Field.
The Tigers have now won four straight series after being swept by the Dodgers in Los Angeles to open the season.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 4, Twins 0
Jobe walked leadoff hitter Matt Wallner to start the game, after he was up 0-2 in the count. Then he gave up a single to Willi Castro.
Then he went to work.
He sawed the bat off in Carlos Correa’s hands with a 97-mph sinker, struck out lefty-swinging Trevor Larnach on three pitches (curveball, slider, slider) and got Byron Buxton to fly out to left.
He proceeded to dispatch 13 straight Twins before allowing a one-out single to Edouard Julien in the fifth. Jobe promptly erased him, getting Harrison Bader to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Jobe, for the first time in his three starts, was able to command his full arsenal, mixing more curveballs and sinkers with his standards — the upper-90s four-seamer, slider and changeup.
He made short work of the Twins in the third, fourth and fifth innings, needing just 12, 11 and eight pitches.
Impressive.
He got some help from his defense, too. Riley Greene took a single away from Correa with a diving catch in center. Trey Sweeney took a single away from Buxton with a slick play and strong throw in the hole at shortstop. Javier Báez made several superb plays at third base.
Spencer Torkelson backed Jobe on the offensive side, knocking in three of the runs and scoring two.
In the sixth, Torkelson stayed on an off-speed pitch from lefty Kody Funderburk and scorched it. The ball left his bat at 107 mph and flew 421 feet off the facing of the second deck in left-center field.
It was Torkelson’s fourth homer of the season.
Twins starter Chris Paddack came in with an ERA just under 15, so a regression to the mean was inevitable. He gave up just two hits in his five innings but the opportunistic Tigers turned both of this hits into runs.
Zach McKinstry, whose hitting streak ended at eight games, led off the first inning with a walk and dashed to third on an infield single by Kerry Carpenter and a subsequent throwing error by Correa.
Torkelson cashed that in with a sacrifice fly to right.
In the fourth, Torkelson led off with a single and Greene walked. Colt Keith moved the runners up with a ground ball to second and Justyn-Henry Malloy drove home Torkelson with another sacrifice fly to right.
The Tigers (9-5) will go for the sweep Sunday with Casey Mize on the mound.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Jackson Jobe gets first MLB win, Tigers top Twins to take fourth straight series
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