Detroit — It appears there might be a forcefield around the .500 mark for the Tigers.
They haven’t been there since May 4 and on Friday they were thwarted for the second time in three days, knocked back by the Central Division-leading White Sox, 9-5 in the first of a potentially-pivotal three-game series in front of 39,638 at Comerica Park.
The loss dropped the Tigers (60-62) 3.5 games back in the division.
It started encouragingly enough.
Rookie Ben Malgeri launched a below-the-zone, two-strike changeup off former Tiger Jose Urquidy off the bullpen roof in the second inning, the first of two homers for him on the night. And Eduardo Valencia doubled in Kevin McGonigle in the third, putting the Tigers up 3-1.
Valencia makes it 3-1 Tigs! pic.twitter.com/EbCtr9wJic
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 14, 2026
Then the White Sox started hitting and didn’t stop. They launched four homers, two by Miguel Vargas, who had four hits on the night, and 14 hits.
They built an 8-3 lead through six innings and ruined Jackson Jobe’s long-awaited first home start back from Tommy John surgery. It got messy fast.
He hit the first two hitters of the game with back-to-back sliders. The first one scored on a two-out single by Brandon Montgomery.
It became clear to the White Sox hitters that Jobe was struggling to command his slider and by the time the fourth inning rolled around, they were full-out hunting heaters. And he obliged by putting a lot of them in the middle of the plate.
In a game-flipping, five-run outburst, Jobe was tagged for two home runs – a two-run blast by Tristan Peters (on a first-pitch, 96.6-mph four-seamer) and a solo shot by Munetaka Murakami (on a 3-0, 97-mph heater).
BOX SCORE: White Sox 9, Tigers 5
He also yielded a two-run triple to Montgomery on a 2-0 four-seamer.
Jobe didn’t get through the fourth. The White Sox put 16 balls in play with an average exit velocity of 94 mph. They had five hits off his fastball, average exit velocity, 99.3 mph.
Vargas’ two-run homer off Enmanuel De Jesus in the sixth made it 8-3.
The Tigers made it a three-run game in the seventh. Malgeri homered and Max Clark followed with a triple, scoring on a ground out by Gleyber Torres.
But the White Sox countered with Vargas’ second homer, this one off Ty Madden.
This story will be updated.
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers' Jackson Jobe has rough outing in 9-5 loss to White Sox