Tigers Bullpen Picks Up Young Star Jobe, Earns Tough Win at Rockies

Detroit Tigers rookie pitcher Jackson Jobe got his first taste of what it's like to pitch in the unforgiving Denver altitude at Coors Field on Wednesday night.

Just like it has for so many talented star hurlers before him, it went quite poorly.

The American League Rookie of the Year contender had the worst outing of his young career against the Rockies, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and a walk over 3.2 innings pitched.

The showing ran Jobe's ERA up to 4.88 for the season when it sat at just 3.38 before he threw a single pitch at Coors.

For Jobe, it was a taste of what his counterpart, another wildly talented prospect in Chase Dollander, deals with in half of his starts.

Just How Good is the Detroit Tigers Bullpen?

The Tigers were still in the game despite Jobe's struggles because the team was able to get to Dollander, putting up six runs against him in three innings.

That made it a close game after both starters faltered, pitting Detroit's bullpen against Colorado's.

That matchup went exactly how any reasonable observer would have expected, as the Tigers went on to win 8-6 in 10 innings, but the unit was unbelievably dominant in a brutal environment.

Brant Hurter was first out of the pen, getting the last out in the fourth and blanking the Rockies in the fifth and sixth while striking out a pair, lowering his ERA to 2.21 in the process.

Next came Brenan Hanifee, who dipped his ERA to 1.45 as he worked around a hit to put up a scoreless seventh.

Veteran Tommy Kahnle had the toughest go as he surrendered two walks and a hit, but he worked out of his jam to send the game to the ninth still tied.

It was no surprise that manager AJ Hinch gave the ball to Will Vest looking to send the game to extra innings.

Vest delivered with a scoreless ninth, striking out Hunter Goodman and Kyle Farmer to work around a one-out double.

Hinch kept Vest out for the 10th after the Tigers grabbed an 8-6 lead, and he induced a double play after a lead-off walk and got Adael Amador to fly out to seal the victory.

All told, the bullpen salvaged a tough day for Jobe by striking out six hitters in 6.1 innings of shutout ball.

It's exactly the type of win that great teams come up with. The hapless Rockies can still be quite a tough out at home, and finding a way after seeing a star starter get shaken is a great sign for Detroit, which now sits at 23-13.