Jackson Jobe was the featured attraction in this one and had another good outing against the Pirates.
The Detroit Tigers haven’t swung the bats all that well early on, but that’s usually how it goes in spring camp. The pitchers are ahead of the curve at this point, but that gap starts to close pretty quickly as we move through early March. On Sunday, Jackson Jobe gave them a good outing and the hitters flexed some muscle, cracking three home runs as they romped to a 10-4 victory on the road against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
We got a really fun pitching matchup in this one. Jackson Jobe is the top pitching prospect in baseball this side of Roki Sasaki, and he took on a talented young right-hander in Pirates’ right-hander Jared Jones. The rookie got the better of it, showing off some nasty stuff in the process.
Trey Sweeney led off in this one, and quickly flicked a double to right field to start the game. Colt Keith and Wenceel Pérez walked as Jones struggled with his command a bit early. That loaded things up for Kerry Carpenter, whose ground ball scored Sweeney but forced Pérez at second base. Jace Jung struck out, and Dillon Dingler flew out to strand a pair.
Jobe opened the bottom of the first spotting fastballs away to strike out Tommy Pham. Brian Reynolds lined out to Jung at third, and Jobe spotted a cutter and a changeup at the bottom of the zone for strikes, and then blew the veteran outfielder away with 99.4 mph at the top of the zone for a swinging strike three.
Jones and then Jobe cruised through the second inning. A sweeper down and in from Jobe got a whiff and a third strikeout for Jobe against Darick Hall, and the Tigers still led 1-0.
Colt Keith smoked a one-out double to center field in the third, but the Tigers couldn’t drive him in.
Jobe’s first pitch of the bottom of the third was a cutter on the outer edge to Henry Davis, but it was at his hip height and the Pirates’ catcher pulled a drive over the left field wall to tie the game 1-1. Jobe got out of the inning without further issue, giving up a single but no more.
3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K for Jackson Jobe in this one. The fastball hit 99 mph repeatedly, topping out at 99.8 mph, and he mixed in good changeups, sweepers, and cutters throughout his outing. Jobe left the curveball on the shelf a little more for this one, throwing six of them. It’s a heck of a curveball though, averaging 3030 rpms with great velocity at 83-84 mph. He also mixed in several sinkers along the way. Yeesh.
With Jobe and Jones out of the game, the Pirates went with veteran lefty Tim Mayza next. Dillon Dingler doubled to left with one out, and after a Zach McKinstry pop-up, Bligh Madris drew a walk. That was well, as they quickly rode home on a three-run shot from Jahmai Jones. That was his first of the year, making it 4-1 Tigers in the fourth.
The Pirates turned to lefty Nick Dombkowski in the wake of Jones blast. Trey Sweeney greeted the new reliever with a solo shot to right field, and it was 5-1 through four after Will Vest spun a quick bottom half of the inning. Beau Brieske gave up a solo shot to Darick Hall in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-2 Tigers. In the sixth, Brant Hurter took over on the mound, and top catching prospect Thayron Liranzo took over behind the dish. Hurter allowed an Endy Rodriguez two-run shot that cut the Tigers lead down to 5-4.
The Detroiters finally broke this one open in the seventh. Hao-Yu Lee led off by drilling a double to center field. Right fielder Brady Allen followed with an RBI single to make it 6-4 Tigers. Patrick Lee got hit by a pitch, and he and Allen rode home when the powerful Liranzo ambushed the first pitch he saw and cranked a three-run shot to straightaway center field at 105.9 mph off the bat.
The Tigers added on another run when Justyn-Henry Malloy, who looked overall pretty good at first base, singled in David Hensley later in the inning to make it 10-4
Hurter allowed a single in the seventh but stranded the runner, looking better as he went along.
In the top of the eighth, the Pirates sent old friend Joey Wentz to the mound. He had no trouble with the Tigers minor leaguers.
In the bottom half, Hurter got the first two outs of the inning, but walked Endy Rodriguez. It wasn’t a good day from Hurter, but the big lefty looked in good form overall, just a little rusty in the command department. He ended with 2 2⁄3 innings of work, and two runs allowed with two strikeouts and one walk issued. No sign there of the Tigers fully converting him to a relief role. Whether that’s to keep contingency plans open for the rotation in case of injury, or they’re planning to keep Hurter starting in Toledo to start the season remains to be determined.
That last walk brought a pitching change as A.J. Hinch went even bigger than Hurter, bringing in six-foot-eight reliever R.J. Petit. The Tigers 14th round pick in the 2021 draft, it’s been slow going for Petit, but over the past year he’s started to put it together, and his mid-to-high 90’s sinker is an absolute bowling ball. He issued a walk and hit a batter, but eventually struck out Bryce Johnson to end the eighth inning.
The Tigers went quietly in the top of the ninth, and it was Tyler Owens time as the right-handed relief prospect looked to defend a six-run lead and wrap this up. Owens got a pop-up to start things off, but Tsung-Che Cheng slapped a grounder up the middle and beat out an infield hit. Fellow Taiwan native Hao-Yu Lee was playing second base, and he made a nice effort running behind second base to pick it and then spinning 180 to make the throw. He was on the mark, but Cheng was too quick.
An Eddys Leonard error at shortstop followed, and so there were two on with one out as a really good hitting prospect in Konnor Griffin stepped to the dish. Owens, topping out around 97 mph, struck out the young hitter on a slider away, and then got Billy Cook on a soft tapper handled by Liranzo in front of the plate.
Overall a pretty good day for the Tigers. Jackson Jobe looked pretty sharp and the stuff is still pretty eye-popping, so that’s good. Colt Keith continues to swing a hot bat, and Dillon Dingler looks much more comfortable than he did last summer and is getting to his power in the early going.
Hao-Yu Lee continues to look good at the plate, and the Tigers are playing him a lot for a non-40 man roster infielder. Still hard to say how much he can improve at third base, but Lee is a solid second baseman and a pretty precocious hitter so we’re excited for the 22-year-old’s season in Toledo. I’m betting he’s in Detroit sometime this summer, personally.
Thayron Liranzo needs more work to become a major league ready defensive catcher, but he’s closed the gap significantly over the last eight months since coming over in the Jack Flaherty trade. We also got a taste of the huge raw power in this one.
Finally, Tyler Owens looks just about ready to help the Tigers bullpen. I’m not sure there’s really a path to the Opening Day bullpen right now, but the right-hander is going to get plenty of opportunities to make his case this spring.
The Tigers will welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday at 1:05 p.m. ET. That looks to be a radio only game. Tarik Skubal will duel Jose Berrios as the Tigers ace makes his second start of the season.