Jobe makes bid for Tigers' playoff roster with 'excellent' bulk outing

DETROIT -- Amidst the elation of the Tigers’ clubhouse celebration Friday night, having clinched their first postseason berth in 10 years, Tarik Skubal joked that Jackson Jobe would be on clubhouse cleanup duty. It was a fun moment to poke a little fun at MLB's top pitching prospect and Detroit's No. 2 prospect.

“He better rest up,” manager A.J. Hinch said afterwards, “because he’s probably going to pitch [Saturday]. So he’d better clean up fast, get home and get to bed.”

The Tigers’ exceptional clubhouse crew had the cleanup under control. What the team needed from its 22-year-old wunderkind was a few innings in the “hangover game.”

It’s not necessarily a literal hangover, but the challenge of bouncing back after the emotional high of clinching a Wild Card spot. And as the Tigers battled through Saturday afternoon’s 4-0 loss to the White Sox after Friday night’s win to punch their playoff ticket -- and a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay before first pitch -- they had to try to recreate the energy that helped pull them through a 31-11 stretch.

That part didn’t go well, as Detroit's six-game winning streak was snapped. Getting Jobe some work and getting some players one more dress rehearsal for a potential playoff role went better.

“So let me go through the best things that happened today,” Hinch said to open his postgame remarks. “Jackson Jobe was excellent, got a chance to extend him out. Sean Guenther was as efficient as you could possibly be [nine pitches in the ninth inning]. And we got to check off a day on the calendar. That’s about it.”

The Jobe part, even in defeat, was big. It will loom larger as the Tigers put together their 26-man roster for their AL Wild Card Series on Tuesday.

The Tigers will have to cut down from their current 28-man roster for that. If the Tigers had a normal five-man rotation, that would be simpler; teams don’t need five starters for a best-of-three series. But with the Tigers mixing and matching openers and bulk pitchers so often, sometimes shifting starters between the two roles, they could go several different directions with their roster construction.

• Postseason FAQ: What's next for Tigers?

Jobe pitching Saturday, rather than Sunday’s regular-season finale, was a good sign that the Tigers want him fresh for the Wild Card Series. It was also a good test to see how the converted starter’s arm bounced back after a solid inning Wednesday.

Jobe’s three hitless innings were a good answer.

“On a really tough day, in terms of just being wet and dreary, borderline Gotham City, he was efficient and threw all of his pitches,” Hinch said, “and [he] got a little bit better as he got a little more comfortable getting back up on the mound.”

The pitch mix was particularly important. Jobe’s MLB debut Wednesday was a nine-pitch inning featuring almost entirely fastballs and cutters, with one changeup mixed in. Part of that could be a product of adrenaline, but catcher Dillon Dingler said the next day they’d like to work in more of his arsenal and have him mix his pitches more like he does as a starter.

“You just have to remember in this bullpen role that he is a four- or five-pitch guy,” Hinch said. “He has a lot of things he can do to a hitter, and we don’t want to turn him into a two-pitch power reliever. That is not the goal of why he’s here, and it’s not how we’re going to use him.”

Jobe’s first 10 pitches Saturday were fastballs and cutters, much like Wednesday. Then, with a 2-2 count on White Sox rookie Jacob Amaya, Jobe unleashed a changeup on the outside corner, freezing the right-handed-hitting Amaya as home-plate umpire John Tumpane quickly pumped his right arm for strike three.

Jobe started using the changeup more to right-handed hitters last year. To get his first Major League strikeout on it seemed fitting.

“It was great to get it out of the way,” Jobe said of the milestone, “super special.”

Jobe flipped in four of his high-spin sweepers as well, topping out at 3,018 rpm according to Statcast. Three of them went for called strikes.

“It was exactly what I wanted it to be,” Jobe said. “Flipped it in early for strikes, showed quite a few pitches out of the bullpen. Being able to mix like that is important, especially if I want to face a lineup more than once.”

Jobe drew 10 called strikes on fastballs, changeups and sweepers over his 39-pitch outing. The one swing-and-miss that he had came on a fastball. That’s an encouraging sign of his strike-throwing ability, something the Tigers emphasized after he averaged 4.4 walks per nine innings in the Minor Leagues this season.

“Just kind of settling down, getting my fastball in the zone instead of trying to be perfect, getting ahead of hitters,” Jobe said.