SEATTLE — Jackson Jobe knows nothing will come easy.
So it’s no surprise that his first major league start didn’t quite go as he’d hoped.
But Jobe has it out of the way.
The Heritage Hall product and third overall pick in the 2021 draft made his first career start Monday, giving up three runs on three hits over four innings in the Detroit Tigers’ 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
“I’m feeling all right,” Jobe said after the win. “Wish I had a couple of those pitches back, but I feel like I pitched well in certain situations and things I could’ve done better. But we got the win so we’ll keep rolling.”
Among the crowd at T-Mobile Park was Jobe’s parents, Brandt and Jennifer, and his personal pitching coach.
“It’s a little surreal,” Brandt said. “All the Little League baseball and us taking him all over the place, you never really think it’s going to amount to much, right? You pray for him to play high school ball, if you’re lucky college and usually that’s where it ends.
“But this has been quite a ride.”
It took Jobe quite some time to even get to the mound once the game started.
The Tigers scored six runs in the first inning, causing Jobe to retreat to the cages to stay fresh while his team was sending 11 batters to the plate.
“Good problem to have for sure,” Jobe said.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, also an Oklahoma product, said he experience was a good lesson for the 22-year-old pitcher.
“What we wanted him to do is pound the strike zone and when he did he got nicked away a little bit,” said Hinch, a Midwest City alum.
Jobe retired the side in order in the first on just 11 pitches.
The fourth batter he faced, Randy Arozarena, belted Jobe’s first pitch of the second inning — a 97 mph fastball — out to left-center.
He allowed another run in the third and then a leadoff homer to Luke Raley in the fourth as Brenan Hanifee warmed up in the bullpen.
When Victor Robles came to the plate with two outs and one on later in the inning, Hinch had decided it would be Jobe’s last batter regardless of the outcome.
After starting Robles with a 3-0 count, Jobe battled back to strike out Robles swinging on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
“It was huge,” Jobe said. “I knew ...
