It wasn't the result Jared Jones was looking for in his second major-league start and first in front of the home fans. But there is one thing he was sure of following the Pirates' 5-2 loss to the Orioles Friday evening at PNC Park.
"My stuff plays," Jones said. "That's first and foremost, and that's what's most encouraging about getting up here and pitching the way I'm pitching so far."
In an encore to his 10-strikeout performance against the Marlins in Miami last weekend, Jones lined up as the team's starter for the home opener and showed those excited about his arrival why that excitement is warranted. Jones navigated his way through one of the tougher lineups in baseball, allowing two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in six innings. The lone runs came on solo homers by Ryan O'Hearn in the second inning and Gunnar Henderson in the third.
When describing Jones and what he's shown through two outings against major-league hitters, Derek Shelton was clearly on the same page as his young right-hander.
“His stuff plays," he said. "That’s one of the best lineups in baseball right there. They grind through at-bats, they put the ball in play, which we saw in the seventh. They didn’t hit a ton of balls hard but they put the ball in play. And he was very impressive.”
Jared Jones racked up 7 K's over 6 frames in the @Pirates' home opener.
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 5, 2024
MLB's No. 58 prospect notched 43 swings-and-misses in his first 2 big league starts, the most in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008): pic.twitter.com/a1KFl5bq5T
Like he did in his first MLB start, Jones leaned heavily on a combo of a four-seam fastball and slider, while mixing in an occasional curveball and changeup. He averaged around 97 mph on his fastball, which generated 11 whiffs when turned to 41 times. He went to his slider on 28 occasions and had nine whiffs.
Jones has generated 43 whiffs and is among the league leaders in strikeouts with 17 through two games.
“I would say that his stuff is very good. And he’s getting whiffs with his fastball, too," Shelton said. "He’s getting swing and miss with his fastball, which is important. That’s a sign of a good major-league pitcher.”
Jones impressed with his ability to stick around the zone, too. He threw 63 of his 80 pitches for strikes and didn't walk a batter.
"Like you saw in my debut, I gave up two walks and that's how they scored," Jones said. "Making them earn what they score is obviously what you want to do."
Jones' pitch count wasn't as much of a factor in his day ending after six innings as his late dip in velocity did. Despite his final pitch coming in at 97.5 mph, he was consistently around 94 and 95 in the sixth.
“I think the velo came down a little bit," Shelton said. "We saw him start to run away from the slider a little bit. That’s something we’ll monitor."
After learning that he made the opening day roster, Jones said he was most proud of his ability to compete in high-leverage situations during spring training. He didn't have too many of those Friday, but he did manage to find his way out of some jams to keep his team within reach.
In the fourth inning, for example, some miscommunication in the outfield on the parts of Michael A. Taylor and Bryan Reynolds allowed O'Hearn to reach with a leadoff triple. Jones locked in and induced a 3-4 groundout, forced a popout to the shortstop and got Colton Cowser swinging to come away unscathed.
He faced a similar situation after giving up a leadoff double to Ryan Mountcastle in the sixth. O'Hearn popped out to third, Cedric Mullins went down swinging and Jordan Westburg flied out to right.
Jones did suffer his first career loss at the major-league level, but he's still showing encouraging things in his first taste of the big leagues. And, as he and Shelton alluded to, his stuff clearly plays.
"It was awesome. Made two mistakes today and that's really about it," Jones said. "Got out of a lot of sticky situations. That was good."
