Jared Jones Makes Return for Pirates: The Good and Bad of First Start
Jared Jones hadn’t pitched in a big-league game since the final series of his rookie season against the New York Yankees in 2024. He hadn’t been on the mound at PNC Park since a four-inning start against the Kansas City Royals on September 15 of that year.
But on Friday night, Jones was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and made his first start for the Pirates since undergoing right elbow surgery last May.
“It was really cool being back out there, being on the team,” Jones said following the Pirates’ 6-5 walk-off win over the Minnesota Twins. “Just super grateful to be here.”
After warming up to “Back in the Saddle” by Luke Combs, a fitting tune for his return, Jones came out of the gate with the same fire he showed from his rookie season.
Jones faced Twins leadoff hitter Byron Buxton, who entered play with 17 home runs and an OPS near .900, and struck him out on three fastballs ranging from 100-101 mph.
“I think we can safely say he was fired up, throwing the ball the way he was,” manager Don Kelly said.
Jones then retired Brooks Lee on a groundout to short, but Kody Clemens hit a second-pitch home run on a 100 mph fastball to right field with two outs.
After the Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the inning, Jones allowed the first three batters of the second inning to reach before Tristan Gray singled home a pair to tie the game. Trevor Larnach drilled a two-run home run on a fastball in the following inning to put the Twins back on top. Jones delivered a scoreless fourth and recorded one out in the fifth before the Pirates went to the bullpen.
Jones’ final line in his first start back was 4.1 innings, seven hits, five runs, two walks, six strikeouts. He threw 53 of his 77 pitches for strikes.
“Kind of just a mixed pile of everything,” Jones said of his outing. “Thought I threw some good pitches. Thought I threw some pretty bad ones. First one back in over 600 days or whatever it is, so I’ll figure it out soon.”
While Jones would have wished for a better showing, there are some positives to take away, in addition to getting through his start in good health.
The velocity was electric. Jones topped out at 101.5 mph, threw nine pitches of at least 100 mph and averaged 99 mph on the pitch.
His offspeed pitches looked sharp at times and were mixed in quite often, and more as his outing went on. He threw his slider 26% of the time, his changeup 19% of the time and went to his curveball 18% of the time.
Between his four pitches, he generated 15 whiffs on 41 swings (37%), including 50% whiff rates on both his changeup and curveball.
“They got to some fastballs, obviously, but he was able to lock it in with the changeup and the breaking balls to get some swing and miss and just continue to get better,” said Kelly.
His first start of the season will serve as a good building block for Jones, and surely the next one will feel more normal.
The most important thing for Jones, though, is that the Pirates came out on top thanks to a Bryan Reynolds walk-off home run in the ninth.
“It’s really cool. I put us in a spot pretty early on in the game and you see the resilience of this team,” he explained. “The guys coming in after me and throwing up zeroes, the bats battling back in the game, and came up clutch in the ninth.”
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Welcome back Jared Jones