After putting his newly-implemented two-seam fastball on display in his first start of the spring earlier this week, Jared Jones used more of a balanced approach when it came to attacking hitters in outing No. 2 Sunday afternoon. 

Jones, knowing he'd be facing a largely left-handed lineup, leaned heavily on his go-to four-seam fastball and slider while also relying on a hefty dose of changeups in the Pirates' 10-4 loss to the Tigers at LECOM Park. 

“They had a lot of lefties in there, so I knew the changeup was going to be in play," said Jones, who ended up throwing 24 of 44 pitches for strikes en route to allowing a run on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. "Henry (Davis) called a first-pitch curveball. That kind of was an interesting one, but it worked. I kind of sucked after there but picked it up.”

Jones threw 19 four-seam fastballs and nine changeups, matching the amount of sliders he used. The changeup and curveball are two pitches he turned to as complementary pieces last season, and could be pivotal to a successful encore in 2025. Jones was pleased with how he fared with them on this day, as he struck out Jace Jung with a changeup in the first inning. While he only went to the curveball five times, he had some close misses and generated at least one swing and miss. 

"I thought overall, the stuff was sharp and he did exactly what he needed to," Davis said. "Got the three ups, executed all his pitches like he needed to." 

Jones only threw the two-seam twice, but he did get two outs with the pitch. He induced a lineout off the bat of Bligh Madris and, soon after, turned to it again in a crucial spot to strikeout Jahmai Jones on a check swing in the second inning. Jones used one word to describe where he currently is with the pitch. 

“Confident," he said. 

Jones centered his offseason focus around ensuring the newest addition to his repertoire doesn't have a negative effect on his bread-and-butter fastball, all while refining his other complementary pitches. Two starts into spring training and all seems to be going according to plan for the young right-hander. 

"I think that's gonna be the next step for his evolution as a pitcher, as a good starting pitcher, being able to do that, to repeat that," Derek Shelton said. "Because you need to be able to do that. You need the full repertoire." 

A few other notes: 

• Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Darick Hall each hit their first home runs of the spring. Seven different Pirates have hit their first homer of the spring over the past two games. 

Davis' came on the first pitch he saw from Jackson Jobe in the bottom of the third inning. He got a cutter on the outside part of the plate and gave himself a chance to stay through it.

"Really good. Good swing," Shelton said. "Henry has done a really nice job at camp overall. Really happy with the progress he's made this winter and into camp, but it's nice to see that a little bit." 

Hall went deep off Beau Brieske in the fifth and Rodriguez hit an opposite-field homer from the right side of the plate off Brant Hurter in the sixth.

• After throwing three scoreless innings in his first two appearances of the spring, Chase Shugart only lasted 1/3 of an inning. He was charged with five earned runs on four hits, including a three-run home run by Brian Serven, and two walks.