TORONTO — Talk to a young pitcher about pitcher wins, and you might be more likely to get an eyeroll than an answer. The rise of advanced metrics have rendered the W in a pitching line as a nod to tradition more than a measurement of performance.
Talk to a pitcher about team wins, however, and the tone changes. Team success is the bottom line, and while a starting pitcher has only so much control over it, he has a golden opportunity to contribute to it every time he takes the mound.
That’s what makes Jackson Jobe‘s rookie season a success so far. His personal stats might not put him in a Rookie of the Year conversation yet, but every time he has taken the mound, the Tigers have won.
If that sounds rare for a pitcher eight starts into his career, it is.
With Sunday’s 3-2 Tigers win over the Blue Jays, Detroit is 8-0 when Jobe starts. He’s the first Tiger ever to get team wins in the first eight starts of his career, breaking a tie with Howie Koplitz. The Tigers won all seven starts Koplitz made for them, from the final game of the 1961 season into his return from the Minors the following summer, before he went to the Washington Senators in the Rule 5 Draft after the 1963 season.
No Major League pitcher has seen his team win his first eight career starts since Houston’s Roy Oswalt and Seattle’s Joel Piñeiro, both in 2001. Oswalt, who moved into the Astros’ rotation at midseason, went 14-3 and finished runner-up to Albert Pujols for NL Rookie of the Year. Piñeiro moved into the rotation later that summer at 22 and posted a 2.03 ERA for the 116-win Mariners.
“It feels good,” Jobe said. “Aside from the outing in Denver [six runs against the Rockies on May 7], I’ve felt really good with how I’ve thrown. I feel like I’m continuing to get a better understanding of how my stuff plays against big league hitters. Just being able to build that confidence and being more comfortable out there, I feel like I’m really close to putting it all together. It just comes with going out there and gaining experience.”
No Tiger had garnered team wins in his first eight starts to a season since 1987, when Detroit went 11-0 behind Doyle Alexander after acquiring him from Atlanta for then-prospect John Smoltz in August. History doesn’t look kindly on the trade, but the 37-year-old Alexander helped the Tigers beat out the Blue Jays for the AL East title that year, setting the stage for this weekend’s series at Rogers Centre as part of MLB’s inaugural Rivalry Weekend.
“I think it builds the expectation that we have a chance to win every time [Jobe] pitches, and we do,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Jackson on the mound, it’s a big boost for him to win a deciding game in a three-game series.”
The Tigers would not own the AL’s best record without Jobe. Likewise, without Akil Baddoo in left field, Jobe might have struggled to get out of Sunday’s opening inning.
Jobe gave up singles to his first two batters. But Baddoo, making his first start in left field since the Tigers recalled him earlier this week, rescued him from danger by playing a role in all three first-inning outs.
“First inning, really didn’t feel like I had my stuff,” Jobe said. “Execution was off. Akil made some really good plays out there and kinda bailed me out. And then as the game went on, I really felt like I got better.”
Baddoo retreated to the wall and reached up to take a potential double away from Jays outfielder and Gold Glove winner Daulton Varsho, whose opposite-field drive had an 82 percent hit probability according to Statcast.
“Off the bat, I felt it was a homer,” Jobe said.
Said Baddoo: “Once I caught it, I was like in shock. I wanted to make sure that I get it in. It was a good momentum booster right there.”
Two pitches later, Baddoo struck again, this time charging in and sliding to the turf on Alejandro Kirk’s sinking line drive. Baddoo’s slide not only gave him a great view of Bo Bichette off second base, but enough time to throw to complete the double play.
“He got me out of that inning, no doubt,” Jobe said.
Baddoo’s defense maintained a lead built on Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double in the top of the inning. Three consecutive fourth-inning hits allowed the Jays to tie the game on Ernie Clement’s two-out single, but Jobe kept Toronto there. Torkelson’s two-out single in the top of the seventh plated Gleyber Torres to move Detroit in front.
