PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Jared Jones became only the fourth pitcher since 1893 to strike out seven in each of his first five starts. Heading for a no-decision, giving up only a run, his teammates came back and got him his second win, as Oneil Cruz had a three-hit night. Final Monday, Pirates 4, Brewers 2.
Not only was he allowed to pitch through the sixth inning, he did so with the sacks full and the pitch count clock running.
"Sixth inning, bases loaded and to get Perkins out there, that's a growth moment because he's legitimately had four games without a lot of stress," said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. "There's no bigger stress than bases loaded there."
He would get the ground out back to him to end the inning.
"I know they trust me," Jones said. "That's essentially what that was, their trust in me. I'm glad I could deliver for them."
Why this time was it ok and last time he was only able to go 59 pitches, even though 50 were for strikes?
"The last time was a different thing," Shelton said. "The last time was predetermined, that he was on five days for the first time and he was throwing five innings. In my mind, watching him today his stuff was still good. He was still sharp."
"He walked Hoskins before that, got out of his delivery a little bit so it was like, 'All right, here we go. Let's see.' And he stepped up and did it. Most importantly, his stuff was still good."
When you think of the dominant pitchers in the history of the game-Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson, Gerrit Cole. None ever had a start like the 22-year-old has. The others to begin their careers with at least seven strikeouts in each of their first five starts-Stephen Strasburg, Masahiro Tanaka and Pirates Jose DeLeon.
On the first pitch of the final strikeout, Jones landed strangely on his ankle and tumbled to the dirt of the mound. He would stay on the mound and eventually get Jackson Chourio swinging. He would also get Brice Turang to fall down after striking out against him in the fifth inning.
"It's a quality hitter," Shelton said. "You see the effectiveness of the slider. This is understating it but it's a really good pitch. He got a really good hitter to take an awkward swing."
"Things like that are the ones that motivate us and myself to go out there on the field and give my 100%," Cruz said.
Jones said he doesn't remember getting a player to fall down while striking him out and while he didn't show outward emotion, he was 'laughing on the inside'.
The 2020, second-round pick has 39 strikeouts to four walks in his first 29 MLB innings with an 0.83 WHIP. On Monday he also tied a Pirates record (AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano) inducing 25 swings and misses. It's a stat they've been keeping since 2008.
"Really just trusts what he does," said catcher Henry Davis. "He's answered a lot of questions so far and he's going to continue to improve and get better. Excited to watch him."
"He's special because he throws hard," said Andrew McCutchen. "He has good ride to his fastball. And he has good secondary stuff, too. It's special to watch, for sure. Glad we were able to score some runs for him, finally. Give him an opportunity to get a win."
McCutchen compared him to Jose Altuve in that you don't expect to see a guy that size be able to do special things, in Jones' case, throw 100 consistently.
"I always think that every time he goes out there, it's either somewhere between seven, eight or 10 strikeouts," Cruz said. "His fastball plays really good. To hit against him has to be really tough."
Indeed.
