Jared Jones threw six perfect innings against the Braves on 77 pitches, and Pittsburgh pulled him anyway. Not because he was tiring, not because the stuff backed up -- because he's still less than two months removed from internal brace surgery on his UCL, and the Pirates aren't letting a perfect-game bid override a recovery plan. Jones made his season debut on May 29, and this was, by any measure, his best and longest outing since coming back.
Jared Jones 18 up 18 down https://t.co/LJjpn74Thn
That's the trade-off with a young arm coming off major elbow surgery. You get flashes of exactly why the Pirates were excited about him in the first place, and then you get pulled at 77 pitches regardless of what the scoreboard says. Pittsburgh made the call to protect the future over chasing history in the present, and on paper it's the right call every single time -- right up until the bullpen coughs the lead in front of everybody watching.
Enter Joey Bart. Pittsburgh traded Bart to Atlanta on June 18 for reliever Hunter Stratton, ending his run as the Pirates' catcher after parts of two seasons. Bart grew up in the Atlanta area and played at Georgia Tech, so the trade was basically a homecoming -- and about three weeks later he made his old club pay for it with a go-ahead two-run homer off the Pirates bullpen.
JOEY BART REVENGE GAME https://t.co/xmzXMXYeiV
Worth a clarification on that clip: the homer shown is a Braves blast off Pittsburgh, and the 'revenge game' label is more vibes than literal box score -- Bart's the storyline because he's the guy who used to wear the other uniform, not necessarily the one who hit the ball 422 feet. Either way, the framing landed. Barstool's main account put the whole sequence together plainly: perfect through six, 77 pitches, pulled, and then the Braves immediately hit a two-run shot to take the lead.
Jared Jones was perfect through 6 innings with 77 pitches and the Pirates pulled him The Braves just hit a 2 run HR and now have the lead https://t.co/GO6rxzVf5G
It didn't end there. The Braves piled on again the following night, with Mike Yastrzemski unloading a grand slam -- his sixth of the season -- to blow a game open late and push Atlanta's lead to double digits.
GRAND SLAM YAZ https://t.co/vgIBMneUBT
None of this changes the calculus in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones being perfect through six innings on a strict pitch count is the best version of a rebuild working as intended -- the stuff is real, the health plan is real, and the losses that come from a taxed bullpen finishing what he started are the cost of doing business responsibly with a valuable young arm. The Pirates didn't lose because they pulled Jones too early. They lost because they don't have the pen depth yet to hold a lead against a Braves lineup that's clearly got some fight left in it, ex-Pirate catcher included.