Pittsburgh Pirates’ Veteran Makes Franchise History after making a Blockbuster Trade Deal With Orioles
One of the few bright spots for the Pittsburgh Pirates during their recent stretch of poor baseball has been starting pitcher Jared Jones. Each time he takes the mound, he has put the team in a position to win with some truly dominant performances.
On Sunday afternoon, Jones took the mound at PNC Park. The Pirates’ offense has been abysmal for a few weeks, with their only chance of winning being strong pitching performances. And that is exactly what they received from their young ace.
Against the Colorado Rockies, Jared Jones had the best start of his career. He threw a career-high 7.0 innings, as the Rockies struggled to even make contact at the plate with Jones showcasing his nasty stuff once again.
In his seven innings of work, he threw 67 of his 96 pitches for strikes as he continued pounding the zone with regularity. He struck out 10 Rockies, which ties his career high from his MLB debut on March 30th against the Miami Marlins.
Performances of that level are becoming the norm for Jared Jones, who made Pirates history on Sunday afternoon. As shared by the team’s official account on X, he is the first pitcher in franchise history to throw 7+ innings with one or fewer hits allowed, 10+ strikeouts and zero walks.
This is already the second outing this season Jones allowed only one hit with more than a strikeout an inning, as he did it against the New York Mets on April 16th. It is the sixth time in seven starts that he recorded 7+ strikeouts, as he has the longest streak to start a career in franchise history as well.
What Jared Jones has accomplished for the Pirates to this point has been quite impressive. He has fixed some of the control issues he had in the minor leagues, possessing elite pitches with his fastball, changeup and slider that he can throw for strikes at any point.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are calling up 21-year-old flamethrowing pitcher Paul Skenes just 10 months after drafting him with the first overall pick, the team announced in a Wednesday tweet.
The Pirates selected Skenes with the first overall pick of the 2023 draft. Since then he’s been lighting up the minor leagues with his electric fastball. He regularly topped 100 miles per hour on the pitch, as 98 of the 422 pitches he threw this season in the minors topped the century mark, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He averaged a cool 99.9 miles per hour on the pitch, according to the outlet.
While it may be a quick call, it’s certainly not undeserving. Skenes has been tearing up the minors. He’d already reached number three on the MLB’s top 100 prospects list, and number one amongst pitchers. The two guys above him, Jackson Chourio and Jackson Holliday, had already received their call-ups (though Holliday has already been sent back to the minors.)
