Jared Jones’ second-half struggles continue vs. Reds

CINCINNATI — The good news is Jared Jones is OK, even if he did give plenty a scare in the fifth inning.

With the pitch timer running down in the fifth inning at Great American Ball Park on Saturday afternoon, Jones “panicked and lobbed the baseball in there” to Reds batter Ty France. Those watching just saw an 84 mph slider, which prompted a trip to the mound from manager Derek Shelton and assistant athletic trainer Tony Leo, who after a conversation with the rookie pitcher, let him finish the fifth inning. While his velocity was not at the same levels we have seen from him this season, it did tick back up to the 93-95 mph range, which is within his normal velocity variance.

“If there was any thought that there was any injury, we would have made sure we got him out of there,” said Shelton.

“I’m fine,” Jones confirmed. “There’s no injury.”

That’s the good news for Jones. The bad news for him is that Saturday was one of his roughest outings of the year, allowing a pair of home runs and a season-high matching six earned runs in a 7-1 Pirates loss to the Reds.

Even omitting the 84 mph pitch, Jones’ velocity was down (averaging 95.9 mph on his four-seam fastball compared to 97.3 mph). The curveball that had looked sharp his last two outings was barely touched, with one of the eight times he did throw it resulting in a two-run shot to center for France. Elly De La Cruz got a hold of a slider in the fourth inning for a three-run shot.

“Terrible. Everything was terrible today,” Jones said.

Jones’ spot in the rotation is due up one more time before the season is through, so this doesn’t exactly end his rookie campaign on a sour note, but the second half of the season hasn’t been as kind to him as the first. He’s recorded a 6.15 ERA (26 1/3 IP, 18 earned runs) in his five starts since returning from the injured list, and Friday’s outing pushed Jones to 128 1/3 innings on the season if you include his rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis, a new career high for him as a professional.

Mix in that it was a muggy afternoon on the banks of the Ohio River, and there’s plenty of reasons why Jones might not have been in top form. He’s not the type that makes excuses, though, and he is in no need to defend what has been a breakout campaign that has cemented him as a cornerstone for this rotation moving forward. That can be evidenced by him becoming just the seventh Pirate rookie to eclipse 125 strikeouts in a season.

But that next step to becoming a bona fide front-of-the-rotation starter begins with consistency.

“I think the biggest thing is early in the year he was really consistent with all of his weapons, and I think what we’ve seen is a little bit of inconsistency,” Shelton said. “Some of that is [it’s his] first Major League season and we’re in September. Some of that is he came off an injury and maybe trying to do a little too much at times.

“But overall, the stuff is still good. We’ve just got to make sure it’s more consistent.”

Jones will enter 2025 in the middle of what could be one of the most talented, young rotations in baseball. Emerging from this season healthy and equipped with new knowledge of how to navigate a full season’s workload can only help.