The Detroit Tigers continued to cruise on Friday, getting home runs from catcher Dillon Dingler, left fielder Riley Greene, and first baseman and 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson as they got past their American League Central rivals the Kansas City Royals, 7-5, at Kaufmann Stadium.
The win was the fifth in a row for Detroit and 20th in its last 28 games, and raised its division-leading record to 35-21, good for a .655 winning percentage. That’s the best record in either league.
But all is not well in Tiger Land. For the second time time in less than two weeks, Detroit was forced to send one its brightest young starting pitchers to the injured list.
While Reese Olson was sent to the IL with a finger injury on May 17, the injury suffered by 22-year-old righty Jackson Jobe, the third-ranked prospect in the Tigers system in 2024, appears potentially a lot more serious.
The third overall 2021 draft pick, out of Heritage Hall School in Oklahoma City, was placed on the 15-day IL with what was diagnosed as a Grade 1 flexor strain in his right elbow.
Jobe was the second-ranked right-handed pitcher in baseball before getting the call-up last year, behind only Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He retained his rookie status for this season.
In 10 major league starts and 12 appearances between the last two seasons, Jobe has won four games and lost just one, with a 3.91 ERA.
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But with flexor strains often, though not always, a precursor to Tommy John surgery, the outlook for Jobe’s career, at least in the near term, is now in doubt. The average recovery time for flexor strains is 111 days, based on data from 2021 to 2024.
If Jobe’s injury adheres to that timetable, he likely will not return to the mound until September at the earliest.
Jobe started against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, but left after 4 2/3 innings giving up three runs and seven hits in what turned out to be a 4-3 Tigers victory.
After that game, Jobe declined to speak with reporters and the Tigers closed their clubhouse, in violation of MLB rules.
Jobe now joins three other Tigers starters on the IL. The others are Olson; $15 million free agent signing Alex Cobb who has not pitched at all this season; and Saywer Gipson-Long, who was with the club in Kansas City and is still waiting to be activated.
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