Jared Jones Shares Frustrations After Pirates Loss

How Jones Pitched vs. the Reds

Jones gave up a solo home run in the first inning to Reds third baseman Sal Stewart on a 98.5 four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate.

He then gave up a leadoff ground-rule double to Reds catcher Jose Trevino in the third inning and he would score off of a deep grounder from Stewart, giving the Reds a 2-0 lead.

Jones would get a quick fourth inning, with two strikeouts, but then things started to go awry in the fifth inning.

He issued a leadoff walk to center fielder Dane Myers and then committed a balk, moving Myers to second base. Jones got a line out from Trevino to Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe, but then threw a wild pitch on a slider down and inside, moving Myers to third base.

Jones then gave up an RBI-double to second baseman Edwin Arroyo, but with a strikeout of shortstop Elly De La Cruz, it looked like he could get out of the inning without further damage.

He then sailed a 99 mph fastball above Pirates catcher Endy Rodríguez, moving Arroyo to third base. He got a ground ball from Stewart, which should've been the final out, but Lowe booted it and Arroyo scored to tie the game up at 4-4.

Jones left the game shortly after, shouting an expletive into his glove as he walked off the mound after one of the tougher innings he's pitched.

"I mean, it was raining, so I couldn't really feel the ball and stopped throwing strikes, balked," Jones said on his fifth inning. "It was just a mess.

Jones Taking Responsibility for Recent Starts

It wasn't a great outing from Jones and he didn't make any excuses for it postgame, wanting better from his performances.

Jones also didn't make an excuse for the defense behind him, even crediting Lowe for making a great diving stop to stop further runs from scoring after he left the fifth inning.

"That's baseball," Jones said. "There's really nothing else to say about that. Lowe made an unbelievable catch to end the inning and turn a double play. That's just baseball."

Jones had a tense conversation with Rodríguez in the dugout after the fifth inning, but he attributed that more to "getting on the same page," and that he needed to get the ball over the plate more to be effective.

This start is the fourth of his six outings that he's given up multiple runs and at least four runs in three of those starts as well, giving up five earned runs in both his first game back vs. the Minnesota Twins at PNC Park on May 29 and against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park on June 15.

He's also given up five home runs for a 1.80 HR/9, which would rank amongst the worst in baseball if he were a qualified pitcher, and it would've been six, had left fielder Bryan Reynolds not robbed Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani of a home run at PNC Park on June 10.

"Not in a good spot," Jones said on his season so far. "I have a five and a half ERA through six starts and giving up homers. Not in a good spot at all."

The good thing for Jones is his stuff is there when it comes to his pitches, in terms of velocity and movement, but the results just aren't quite there yet.

Jones knows what he has to do going forward and he'll have a start on the next road trip to prove he can do that.

"Throw the ball over the zone more," Jones said on getting the desired results. "Make more competitive pitches. I got burned by a lot of two-strike counts right down the middle."