Jones proves catalyst in 2nd big league game

DETROIT — JaCoby Jones was still basking in the excitement of his two-hit, two-RBI Major League debut Tuesday night when he realized his next assignment looming hours later. His second big league game was a matchup with Chris Sale.

“I went to bed knowing I’d be facing him,” Jones said.

With family in town and well-wishers on the phone, Jones didn’t get to bed until about 1:30 a.m. The idea of stepping in the box against Sale and his slider with more than 30,000 people watching was a pretty nice wakeup call.

“Just being in the box with Chris Sale, it’s like, ‘Ugh, OK, here we go,'” he said.

The only challenge that might compare was facing David Robertson and his cutter. On Wednesday, Jones had to face both pitchers. His two doubles helped provide the difference in the Tigers’ 3-2 win over the White Sox.

When the Tigers called up Jones from Triple-A Toledo 24 hours earlier, they were looking for a jolt to a struggling offense. They’ve got it.

“To be honest with you, that was brought to me by [general manager] Al [Avila] as an idea,” manager Brad Ausmus said, “so I’ll give Al credit. In talking to Al and talking to [Mud Hens manager] Lloyd [McClendon] about JaCoby and how he was playing in recent days down there, we decided it might be a good idea.”

They had to look beyond the numbers for it. Jones batted .243 (71-for-292) with 97 strikeouts with …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com