Jared Jones sizzles again as Pirates beat Brewers to snap 6-game losing streak

Their losing streak was wearing on the Pittsburgh Pirates to the point that it showed in their body language, so Jared Jones provided the perfect antidote by turning the tables on the Milwaukee Brewers.

The 22-year-old rookie right-hander strutted out to the mound with swagger, then unleashed eight fastballs that touched triple digits in the first inning — and a slider that buckled a batter’s knees in the third.

Andrew McCutchen hit a leadoff home run, and Jones recorded seven strikeouts in another sizzling start as the Pirates snapped a six-game losing streak by beating the first-place Brewers, 4-2, on Monday night in their NL Central Division opener before 8,461 at PNC Park.

“He’s got positive body language. This kid is locked in every single pitch,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Jones. “I think Cutch set the tone early on and then Jared kind of came up on top of it just going right after them.”

The Pirates (12-11) were coming off losing three-game sweeps in successive series against the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, so the fast start quickly changed the mood in the home dugout.

“It’s awesome,” Jones said. “Cutch first at-bat home run and a shutdown inning, those are the keys to success. Just having the key guys around, hitting is contagious, pitching is contagious. I think a lot of stuff will start to roll around pretty quick.”

After being pulled despite throwing 50 of his 59 pitches for strikes in five scoreless innings at the Mets on April 16, the Pirates allowed Jones to pitch the sixth this time. He allowed one run on four hits and two walks while throwing 63 of his 91 pitches for strikes, and he got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth 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.”

It marked the fifth consecutive start that Jones had at least seven strikeouts, matching former Pirates pitcher Jose DeLeon (1983), Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals (2010) and Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees for the major-league record to start a career.

Jones (2-2) retired the side in the first, striking out the first two batters on sliders. He topped out at 100.8 mph on a four-seamer to get Willy Adames to ground out to third. It was the fastest pitch by a Pirates starter since Gerrit Cole hit 101 at the Chicago Cubs on May 16, 2015, and the third-fastest for the club since such data started being tracked in 2008.

“He’s not huge at all, but he can throw the ball over 100 mph consistently,” McCutchen said of Jones, generously listed at 6-foot-1. “Just something you don’t see every day. The velo is going up in the game, but he’s special because he throws hard. 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.”

Jones got some run support thanks to three-hit games from a pair of players who were struggling at the plate

In an effort to spark a lackluster offense that had produced only eight runs during the losing skid, Shelton shuffled the batting order, putting McCutchen at the leadoff spot for the first time this season. Shelton joked that he was looking for McCutchen, who was hitting .173, to “get on base four times and score four runs.”

McCutchen sent Joe Ross’ 1-1 slider 414 feet over the center field wall for his second home run and a 1-0 lead. It was the 23rd career leadoff homer for McCutchen, who nearly delivered on Shelton’s prediction by going 3 for 4. After hitting his 300th career homer on April 14 at Philadelphia, McCutchen reached another career milestone with his 1,000th career single in the third inning.

Oneil Cruz also snapped out of a funk by going 3 for 4, with a single in the second, a double in the fourth and a two-run single in the three-run sixth. It was the second three-hit game of the season for Cruz, who was batting .104 since April 7.

Jones got 25 swinging strikes to match A.J. Burnett (2013) and Francisco Liriano (2014) as the most by a Pirates pitcher since pitch data started being tracked in 2008. Jones had a highlight swing-and-miss moment in the third on a hard-breaking slider that caused Brice Turang’s left knee to buckle and had him fall backwards onto home plate. Joey Ortiz followed with a single, but Jones retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced.

Even Brewers manager Pat Murphy was impressed, calling Jones “as good an arm as I’ve seen” this season. Murphy noted that Milwaukee (14-7), which had five starters batting .306 or better, has faced 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes, Dylan Cease and Joe Musgrove.

“Fantastic,” Murphy said. “Wow … That kid, he was electric.”

Rhys Hoskins hammered Jones’ only mistake pitch, a 3-1 fastball, sending it 413 feet to left field for his fifth homer to tie the score at 1-1 in the fifth inning. Then, on an 0-1 pitch to Jackson Chourio, Jones stepped on a hole in the mound, rolled his right ankle and fell down. Trainers checked on him, but Jones remained in the game, striking out Chourio and getting Ortiz to ground out to finish the inning.

The Brewers loaded the bases against Jones in the sixth, as William Contreras singled, Jake Bauers doubled and Hoskins drew a full-count walk. But Blake Perkins hit a comebacker that Jones snagged to get get the final out and escape unscathed.

“There was no waver there,” Shelton said. “There will be times where maybe he doesn’t get that guy, but tonight, the way he looked, the way his stuff was, felt really confident in where he was at.”

The Pirates didn’t miss their scoring chances in the sixth. After Ke’Bryan Hayes led off with a single to third, the Brewers brought in lefty Hoby Milner to replace Ross.

The Pirates countered by having righty Connor Joe pinch-hit for Rowdy Tellez, and Joe singled to right. Hayes scored for a 2-1 lead when Jack Suwinski grounded to first base, where Bauers made an errant throw, and Michael A. Taylor’s sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position. Cruz followed with a two-run single to left to drive in Joe and Suwinski for a 4-1 Pirates lead.

“It feels really good to just be able to hit that ball and drive in two runs,” Cruz said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “Every run counts, and with that, sometimes we avoid going to extra innings, and I think that’s what happened there. It’s always good to get extra runs.”

Shelton turned to Aroldis Chapman in the eighth, and the lefty struck out Joey Wiemer to start before walking Contreras, Adames and pinch hitter Gary Sanchez to load the bases. That forced Shelton to bring in righty Hunter Stratton. Hoskins grounded out to third to score Contreras and cut it to 4-2, but Stratton got Perkins to ground out to first.

In the ninth, David Bednar struck out pinch hitter Oliver Dunn, who represented the tying run, to earn his third save as the Pirates celebrated their first win since April 14.

“We definitely needed this game,” McCutchen said. “Team in your division, if we can win those games, it’s big for us. It’s April, right? Hot start, then it goes slow, then you have to figure out how to pick it up again. It was a good win for us. I feel like it was one that we really needed. Scratched, clawed, got the runs when we needed ‘em. We were able to hold the lead at the end there. It was good. Hopefully we can breathe and be ready to go tomorrow.”