Jackson Jobe finishes season strong, Tigers hang on to beat Pirates

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Sep 25, 2026

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — It wasn’t lost on anyone that 24-year-old right-hander and former first-round pick Jackson Jobe was on the mound on the night the Tigers celebrated the career of Justin Verlander.

They aren’t comparable, really, given Verlander is ticketed for Cooperstown and Jobe’s journey is just starting, but a 24-year-old Verlander would see a lot of himself in Jobe. The powerful arm, the high-rpm spin and the self-assuredness that borders on cockiness.

In fact, Verlander, who was mentored early in his career by 43-year-old Kenny Rogers, said he wasn’t exactly sure if Jobe considered him a mentor.

“Yeah, we talk,” Verlander said. “I talk about pitching with him. But we'll see. I think it's one of those things. As a kid, you receive advice sometimes and you don't even know if you really receive it until later on. You look back at it and it’s like, man, that was good advice. Maybe not in the moment.

"Time will tell.”

Some things have clearly seeped in because Jobe finished the season on a four-start heater. He allowed two runs and struck out eight in 5⅓ innings in his ninth and final start of the year and the Tigers held on to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7, Friday, Sept. 25 at Comerica Park.

It was the fourth straight outing where Jobe struck out at least seven. He allowed just three hits and, working in perfect harmony with catcher Dillon Dingler, was expertly mixing his entire arsenal.

Like in the third inning when he froze right-handed hitting Konnor Griffin with a 98-mph four-seam after getting swing-and-miss on a changeup. Two batters later, he froze lefty Bryan Reynolds with an 88-mph curveball after a swing-and-miss with an 88-mph slider.

He ended up with 14 whiffs on 34 swings and 21 called strikes.

Over his final four starts, he struck out 32 hitters and walked six in 22⅔ innings. It was object evidence of what manager AJ Hinch and Verlander have been preaching: This isn’t a “stuff” league, it’s an “execution” league.

“It’s just seeing that talent only gets you so far and work ethic is second to none,” Verlander said. “Just objectively asking yourself, what do I need to do to be great and figuring that out and navigating that as a young man. Trying to hone your craft.”

And finding it is just the beginning of the journey, Verlander said.

“You find it and you ride that as long as you can,” he said. “But I promise it'll change if you want to have the career that you're going to want to have. You talk to those guys; they're going to want to play 20 years. Well things change, the body changes, the game changes. So many things are going to change.

“So being really objective with yourself is important. Understanding what you need to do and being adaptable to the game and to yourself is vitally important.”

Wisdom.

The Tigers offense got a lot of help from the Pirates, both in the form of walks (seven), errors and misplays, and built an 8-2 lead.

Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler walked four in 2⅔ innings and the Tigers didn’t let him off the hook.

Eduardo Valencia walked to start the second inning and Brett Callahan singled him to third with two outs. Spencer Torkelson cashed in both with a slicing, opposite-field triple that skipped past right fielder Jake Mangum.

Chandler walked three batters and did not get out of the third inning. With two outs, Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene walked around a single by Valencia to load the bases. Dingler brought both home with a single.

Dingler and Greene scored on a rare two-run wild pitch. Torkelson swung and missed on a 3-2 breaking ball that skipped past catcher Rafael Flores Jr. all the way to the backstop.

Torkelson was gifted a bloop double in the fifth on a ball that dropped between three fielders in short right field. Then he smashed his 26th homer in the seventh.

Valencia walked for the third time in the sixth inning and scored on a two-out error by shortstop Griffin. That after the inning was extended when a bloop by Greene fell in against between three fielders.

Things got dicey in the eighth when rookie Andrew Sears was tagged with five fast two-out runs. The big blast was a three-run homer by Flores Jr.

But Kenley Jansen shut it down, earning his 22nd save with a clean ninth inning. With two games left in the season, he's now two shy of becoming the third player ever to reach the 500-save threshold.

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