PIRATES

For the first time in nearly two years, Jared Jones was presented with the opportunity to bounce back from a less-than-ideal major-league start. 

He wasn't too thrilled with that first outing against the Twins, one in which he allowed five runs and two homers over 4 1/3 innings, and was determined to deliver a better encore performance. He did just that in tossing five scoreless innings to help guide the Pirates to a 5-1 win and a series victory over the Astros here tonight at Daikin Park. 

It was also Jones' seventh career win and first since Sept. 8, 2024 against the Nationals at PNC Park. 

"First start back was obviously pretty tough, but you kind of take that with a grain of salt," said Jones, who allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four. "First time in 600-plus days, so nobody's expecting it. I expected it myself, but that start was always going to happen. Getting this bounce back was pretty cool."

Jones said he felt as if things clicked better than they did against the Twins. He relied heavily on his fastball (31 times) and slider (27), a pitch he generated six of his 12 whiffs with, and did everything he could to keep hitters off balance. He even reared back and threw the slider with some extra velocity, as he averaged 91 mph with it. That's a 2.1 mph increase over his start against the Twins. 

"That might have been the first time I threw a first-pitch slider in my life," Jones said. "Threw everything I had at them, and it ended up working out pretty well." 

Don Kelly said he was most impressed by the way Jones slowed things down after a 25-pitch first inning in which he allowed back-to-back baserunners to begin the game. he struck out three straight batters to strand those runners and it was smooth sailing from there. 

"He was able to slow things down and still attack with the fastball," Kelly said. "I thought his slider and changeup were really good tonight."

This is the version of Jones the Pirates are happy to have back. When he's attacking hitters, mixing his pitches and doing whatever it takes to record outs, he's tough to beat. And the Pirates had a solid recipe for success in pairing him with Carmen Mlodzinski, who threw four innings of one-run ball to record his second career save. It sure seems like those two filled roles that can certainly help the team moving forward. 

"I don't think it could have gone any better than the way it did," Kelly said.