PITTSBURGH -- September is usually a time when pitchers run out of gas. Yet for Jared Jones, who started his season two months later due to rehab from internal brace surgery on his right arm in May 2025, he has plenty left in the tank.
The Pirates defeated the Cardinals, 2-0, for their fifth straight win on Tuesday behind seven scoreless innings by Jones for the 80th win of the season. He allowed baserunner (a softly hit double) and struck out nine batters, and Pittsburgh tallied 80 wins for the fifth time since 1993.
The season’s final month has been a proving ground for Jones. In four September starts, Jones has a 1.08 ERA in 25 innings with 35 strikeouts. His ERA ranks fourth among pitchers with at least 20 innings this month, with a .174 opposing slugging percentage mark that ranks first.
“You can say I have gas in the tank because I missed the first two months of the season. So I know guys are out there feeling worse than what I am as of right now,” Jones said. “For me, it should be like July or something right now. But yeah, I feel like I have a lot left to go.”
Jones entered the outing on fire, allowing just three runs across 18 innings (three starts) in September. He went perfect through six innings on July 8 against Atlanta before being taken out due to his high pitch count. After some ups and downs in August, Jones found dominance again, carrying a no-hit bid into the seventh inning versus the White Sox on Sept. 10 in Chicago.
Jones retired the first 16 batters in order, striking out six and inducing weak contact as the wind blew in heavily at PNC Park. Pirates manager Don Kelly has gone through the stress of having to monitor Jones’ pitch count through these times of perfection. He began doing the math in the fifth, saying he loves when Jones pitches so well that it makes his job tougher.
“It’s a tough one because ultimately our goal is for Jared Jones to be pitching really well into ’27 and beyond,” Kelly said. “Where that line is, I don’t think we know. Fortunately we didn’t have to make that decision. He threw the ball well enough to be able to do it, but he’s been doing great.”
Pitch count has often stopped Jones from pitching into the final innings this season. Though it wasn’t too much of an issue on Tuesday, as he tallied only 59 pitches through five perfect innings.
Jones’ perfect game (and no-hitter) ended with one out in the sixth inning, when Nathan Church sliced a ball the opposite way out of reach of third baseman Jacob Gonzalez. The ball trickled into left field for a double.
“Yeah, I keep flirting with it, but I can’t ever get it done,” Jones said. “I’ll take that start every time of the week. Just really happy to give the guys an opportunity to win and we did.”
Jones left him stranded on second to keep the game scoreless. Pittsburgh promptly took the lead in the bottom half of the inning with Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single scoring Oneil Cruz.
Exiting after 86 pitches, Jones is scheduled to pitch the season finale on Sunday. The Pirates added another run in the seventh on a wild pitch, and closed the door with Luke Weaver and Gregory Soto to complete the one-hitter.
“The past four months, it's been either really good or really bad,” Jones said. “So glad I'm ending here on a good month so far.”