White Sox deal blow to Tigers playoff hopes as Jackson Jobe whacked

Detroit Tigers starter Jackson Jobe allowed five earned runs on two home runs, a triple, a double, a single and a walk – just in the fourth inning alone.

It was a career-worst frame for Jobe that led to a 9-5 Tigers loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday, Aug. 14, at Comerica Park in Detroit, dealing a blow to the Tigers' playoff hopes.

This was Jobe’s second start of the season following a lengthy recovery from Tommy John surgery, one that provided nearly opposite results from the five scoreless innings he put up in San Francisco on Aug. 8.

Jobe, 24, entered the fourth inning staked to a 3-1 lead. Center fielder Tristan Peters quickly erased it with a two-run home run following a leadoff single from second baseman Chase Meidroth. Slugger Munetaka Murakami then grabbed the lead on a solo home run, his 27th of the season, while a two-out triple from right fielder Braden Montgomery (his third hit of the game) scored third baseman Miguel Vargas and designated hitter Andrew Benintendi.

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MUNETAKA MURAKAMI 🔥 No-doubter for the lead 💪 pic.twitter.com/sMucqfFXeQ

— MLB (@MLB) August 14, 2026 Jobe’s six earned runs over 3⅔ innings tied a career-worst outing for the third-year pitcher: He gave up six runs in 3⅔ innings in a start against the Colorado Rockies on May 7, 2025 (a game the Tigers ended up winning 8-6 in extra innings).

A two-run home run from Tigers rookie Ben Malgeri in the second inning – his first of two home runs in the game – and an RBI double from rookie Eduardo Valencia in the third gave Jobe that 3-1 lead, one that took the White Sox only two batters to erase.

Malgeri's seventh-inning solo home run kicked off a comeback attempt that was followed by a Max Clark triple, with Clark scoring on a groundout from Gleyber Torres. But the comeback ultimately fell short.

Tigers playoff race

With the win, the White Sox extend their American League Central lead to 3½ games over the Tigers, who fall to 60-62 – thwarted once again in their quest for a .500 record. The Tigers fell into a tie with the Texas Rangers (60-62) for the final American League wild-card berth . The Tigers own the tiebreak. The Rangers visited the Athletics late Friday.

On the mound: Jackson Jobe's nightmare start

Jobe began his game by hitting two batters in a row on consecutive pitches – first left fielder Sam Antonacci on his second pitch of the game and then Murakami on his third. Both left-handed hitters were hit in the foot by wayward breaking balls.

It was a bad omen for Jobe, the former No. 3 overall draft pick in the 2021 MLB Draft.

Three batters later, Braden Montgomery laced a two-out, opposite-field single into left field, sending Antonacci home for the first run of the game. Jobe got shortstop Colson Montgomery to strike out to end the inning, but not before giving up his first earned run of the season.

Jobe gave up another single in the second and two more in the third, but escaped both innings without allowing a run. Then came the fourth, when the White Sox put up their five-run explosion.

Four of the five hits the White Sox put up in the fourth inning came off Jobe’s fastball, which averaged 97.8 mph for the game and even touched 100 mph in the first inning. But the White Sox batters sent it back even harder, with Murakami, Peters and Braden Montgomery each recording exit velocities of at least 104 mph on their fourth-inning, extra-base hits.

Vargas added a two-run home run off lefty reliever Enmanuel De Jesus in the sixth inning, extending Chicago’s lead to 8-3, and then added another solo home run in the eighth off Ty Madden for his 27th of the season. His eighth-inning blast tied Murakami for the team lead in home runs as the White Sox are the only team in MLB with three players sporting at least 25 home runs in 2026 (Vargas, Murakami and Colson Montgomery).

At the plate: Tigers rookies carry load

The Tigers got zero hits against White Sox opener Sean Newcomb, but struck when he was taken out for long reliever José Urquidy.

Two batters after a one-out single from first baseman Spencer Torkelson, Malgeri struck for his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Malgeri added a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning that cut Chicago's lead to 8-4 and became the sixth Tiger to record a multi home run game this season.

Go-ahead, Ben! 👏 pic.twitter.com/1th75TyuGc

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 14, 2026 A two-out double from Valencia in the third inning scored Kevin McGonigle from first base and gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead. The double was Valencia’s 11th extra-base knock through his first 16 games – he has put up a 1.253 OPS to begin his career after lacing another two hits on Friday.

Clark's triple in the seventh inning looked to spark a late-inning comeback, but the Tigers couldn't muster any more runs after he scored.

Next up: Jake Rogers?

The Tigers (60-62) face off against the White Sox (63-58) in the second game of their three-game series at Comerica Park on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET (Detroit SportsNet). Tigers right-hander Troy Melton is scheduled to face White Sox lefty Anthony Kay, who may call former Tigers catcher Jake Rogers his battery mate after the White Sox claimed Rogers off waivers earlier Friday.

You can reach Christian at [email protected] .

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: White Sox deal blow to Tigers playoff hopes as Jackson Jobe whacked

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