Jared Jones was seething after his last start, describing it as “terrible, [dog crap], just about any word you can think of that means bad.”
The Pirates right-hander wasn't thrilled after this one either — and understandably so.
With the Pirates looking to snap a five-series losing streak, Jones allowed a career-high eight earned runs during Pittsburgh’s 11-1 loss to the Mets on Sunday at PNC Park.
Jones recorded just nine outs before Evan Sisk replaced him in the fourth inning. His line was not pretty: six hits, three walks, two hit batters and a two-run homer allowed to center fielder Luis Robert Jr. in the third inning.
“Got behind just about everybody,” Jones said. “Feel like I really couldn’t control any at bats. Stuff just got away from me, and I couldn’t make an adjustment.”
After a terrific July, where Jones had a 2.00 ERA in five starts, walking six and striking out 33 in 27 innings, his past two outings have been a struggle.
Last Tuesday in Milwaukee, Jones might’ve been a little hard on himself. Though he completed just four innings, he did hold the Brewers to three runs. The result was a 4-2 loss that was as much on the offense as anything.
But this time, as the Pirates looked to build on a blowout victory Saturday night, the frustration was absolutely warranted.
Jones’ fastball was once again down nearly 1 mph. He also had several instances of hard contact on the pitch, along with issues giving out free passes.
Jones saw his ERA jump to 5.03, while the Pirates concluded a stretch of 17 games in 17 days with a record of 5-12, dropping from three games over .500 (53-50) following the Yankees series to four games under (58-62) now.
“It seemed from the beginning, command didn't seem to be there,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said.
Starting pitching has been responsible for much-too-large chunk of that, as the Pirates have a 5.59 ERA from that group since the All-Star break, ranking among the worst-performing units in MLB.
Meanwhile, the Pirates endured some familiar problems against a lefty starter in Sean Manaea, who struck out six in a row at one point and faced little resistance from Pittsburgh.
As far as issues hitting lefties go, this was unquestionably among the worst the Pirates have experienced this season. Manaea, who hadn’t struck out more than seven all year and wasn’t in the Mets rotation until mid-June, fanned 11 over seven innings of one-run ball.
“That was a tough one,” Kelly said. “We have to find a way to be better there. We weren’t able to get anything going offensively.”
The Pirates are now 10-26 this season against lefty starters. Manaea allowed Jake Mangum’s solo home run, a Bryan Reynolds double and an innocuous single from Ronny Simon in the sixth.
New York scored twice in the first on a single from right fielder Carson Benge and a sacrifice fly. It was 5-0 after three thanks to Robert’s homer — on a 1-0 four-seamer down, which he hit 408 feet at 108.3 mph — and second baseman Marcus Semien’s single on a 3-0 fastball middle-in.
Jones hit one and walked two to start the fourth before manager Don Kelly made a change. Evan Sisk entered and allowed a bases-clearing double to third baseman Bo Bichette on a two-strike curveball that caught too much plate.
From there, not much mattered. First baseman Jared Young singled home a run later in the fourth and catcher Francisco Alvarez homered off Kirby Yates in the fifth.
The combination of Jones’ struggles and Pittsburgh’s inability to solve left-handed pitching was far too much to overcome.
The loss leaves the Pirates 5.5 games back in the race for the final NL Wild Card. More than that, though, it short-circuited any positivity that might’ve been generated just 16 hours prior.
“Any time you're playing 17 in 17 is tough,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to find a way to bounce back. Got the off day [Monday] and have a big series coming up in Miami.”
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.