DETROIT -- The 10th pitch of Friday night from Jackson Jobe registered at 99.1 miles per hour to Royals slugger Vinnie Pasquantino, according to Statcast. It was the kind of power fastball Tigers fans have come to anticipate from Detroit¡¯s top prospect ever since he hit triple digits in his Spring Training debut a year ago.
But for Pasquantino, it was a pitch for him to foul off to extend his at-bat before turning on a 98.8 mph heater and tucking it inside the right-field line at 111 mph for an RBI double and the Royals¡¯ first lead of the series.
¡°He was a little amped up,¡± catcher Tom¨¢s Nido said. ¡°It tends to happen when the game kind of speeds up.¡±
That fact that it ended up being his only run allowed over five innings speaks to the adjustment the rookie starter made from there. So is the fact that Jobe, who didn¡¯t get his first swing and miss until his 24th pitch of the inning, ended up with 10 swinging strikes and a career-high five strikeouts.
On a night when the Tigers were tasked with trying to solve Cole Ragans, who allowed just three runs in as many starts against Detroit last year, Jobe outpitched and outlasted the Royals¡¯ All-Star lefty. The 7-3 Tigers victory resembled a football score after add-on runs and a late Royals rally, but the game turned on tenacious at-bats against Ragans and an early adjustment from Jobe (2-0), who has won back-to-back starts as he continues to learn how to approach Major League hitters as a starter.
¡°I feel like I made a great adjustment after the first inning, kind of similar to my last outing,¡± Jobe said. ¡°I feel like I continue to take good steps after each outing, try to keep on improving.¡±
The aggressiveness is still there from Jobe, six weeks after he talked in Spring Training about challenging hitters with his best stuff and no longer trying to dot a gnat¡¯s backside. How he challenges them, and the stuff with which he does it, is evolving.
¡°His results weren¡¯t necessarily as good as the last one,¡± manager A.J. Hinch said, ¡°but he might have thrown better. As he got into the game, he got better and better. They were being pretty aggressive, hitting his fastball, and he started mixing his pitches pretty well.¡±
After Jobe recorded his first swinging strike with a slider to Michael Massey, he sent down Massey swinging at another, ending a 25-pitch first inning with a one-run deficit but with runners stranded at second and third. Hunter Renfroe led off the second inning with a single through the middle, but Jobe fanned Drew Waters on a curveball and two changeups, then followed a slider with a curveball to fan Kyle Isbel.
¡°I had a good feel for the curveball today,¡± Jobe said. ¡°It¡¯s something I¡¯ve been working on. To mix that to lefties after they¡¯ve seen quite a bit of sliders is definitely helpful.¡±
Jonathan India worked an eight-pitch walk to extend the second inning for Bobby Witt Jr., who doubled and scored in the first inning after getting ahead 2-0. This time, though, Jobe put him in an 0-2 hole with back-to-back sliders, sped him up to foul off a 96.6 mph fastball off the plate, then slowed him down with a changeup that he popped out to foul territory near first base, an approach that Reese Olson used well Thursday night.
¡°He¡¯s an incredible player,¡± Jobe said of Witt, ¡°but you try to keep the same mindset as any other guy. I don¡¯t feel like I did that in the first inning, fell behind 2-0 and then had to give him something to hit, and he made me pay for it. That was the adjustment.¡±
All five of Jobe¡¯s strikeouts came on offspeed or breaking pitches, as did all 10 swinging strikes -- four each on his changeup and slider. His 15 called strikes were spread across his arsenal, including four on the curveball. The pitch he developed in the offseason as a swing-and-miss option off his fastball has become a weapon for him to steal called strikes.
¡°He started landing the curveball,¡± Hinch said. ¡°The changeup is always pretty good. The slider was pretty good. His pitch count was up, which was really the reason to come out of the game after five [innings]. But if you look at innings two, three, four, five, he just got better and better and showed more and more poise.
¡°In a close game against a very tough pitcher on the other side, where it looked like runs were going to be at a premium, he hung in there and battled.¡±