Jared Jones gives up a pair of 2-run homers in return, Cubs pound Pirates' bullpen again

Jared Jones wanted to go on the attack in his first start for the Pittsburgh Pirates since July 3, but the rookie right-hander found that his four-seam fastball was the only pitch he could command in the fourth inning.

Without the ability to land all of the pitches in his arsenal, Jones was forced to rely on his fastball. And the Chicago Cubs were content to sit back and wait on the heater.

Seiya Suzuki and Dansy Swanson sandwiched two-run home runs around Nico Hoerner’s RBI double to take a commanding lead, then the Cubs piled on against the Pirates’ bullpen for a 9-5 win Tuesday night over their NL Central rivals before 13,619 at PNC Park.

“It’s either a learning experience or you just drown yourself in sulk,” Jones said. “Sulking is not really a good option. So I’m going to take a look at some video and figure out what I can do better.”

It was the first start in the majors for Jones since he was pulled from a July 3 start against the St. Louis Cardinals after five innings with a right lat strain, which kept him on the injured list for almost two months and required a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis.

Of his 83 pitches, 43 were fastballs that generated 26 swings and seven whiffs. His other three pitches combined to draw only 10 swings and one whiff. That put Jones in a “pretty difficult” spot, as he surrendered five runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

“I couldn’t land a slider or curveball or changeup the entire inning, it felt like,” Jones said. “Trying to get major league hitters out when they know the fastball’s coming, (when) it’s the only pitch you can throw, is tough.”

Jones escaped the first inning despite Ian Happ drilling his third pitch, a low fastball, 358 feet off the fence atop the Clemente Wall for a double. But Nick Gonzales caught Mike Tauchman’s line drive and caught Happ off second base for a double play, and Jones got Cody Bellinger to fly out to left to end the frame.

The Pirates gave Jones a two-run cushion, as Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back singles and advanced into scoring position on a Gonzales groundout. Oneil Cruz drove in Kiner-Falefa with a sacrifice fly and, after Connor Joe drew a walk, Bryan De La Cruz doubled down the left field line to score Reynolds.

Jones lost an eight-pitch battle and walked Tauchman to start the fourth, then Suzuki smacked his 19th home run, a two-run shot that just cleared the Clemente Wall to tie the game. Isaac Paredes drew a one-out walk, then scored the go-ahead run on a double to left by Hoerner when catcher Henry Davis missed Kiner-Falefa’s relay throw.

That prompted a mound visit by Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin. But Swanson smashed Jones’ next pitch, a 97-mph fastball, 421 feet to center field for a two-run homer and 5-2 Cubs lead. It was the second consecutive game with a home run by Swanson, who hit a grand slam in the sixth inning of Monday’s 18-8 win over the Pirates.

“When you get a veteran team like the Cubs and you go back down to one pitch, regardless of what it is, it’s challenging,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Jones. “So, execution of the breaking ball and then once he started with that, he started to kind of cut across with the fastball. He kind of just lost the zone and had to come back in the zone to Dansby with the fastball, and he’s a veteran hitter that knows he’s pretty much getting a fastball. He didn’t miss it.”

The 39-pitch inning was the last one for Jones but was followed by a four-run fifth inning. Lefty Jalen Beeks struck out Tauchman, but Suzuki singled and Gonzales made an error on a double-play ball that put runners on first and second. Ben Heller replaced Beeks, only to hit Hoerner with a pitch to load the bases, walk in two runs and give up a two-run single to Miguel Amaya as the Cubs extended their lead to 9-2.

Shelton called it “extremely” frustrating that the bullpen didn’t hold up its end of the bargain after another short outing by the starter.

“Beeks came in and did exactly what he’s supposed to do: He gets the first hitter out, gets a soft base hit from Suzuki and then gets a routine double play ball and changes the whole dynamic of the inning and possibly the game possibly, because it’s 5-2 at that point,” Shelton said. “So, we’ve got to make a play there. And, after that, we’ve got to throw strikes – and we didn’t throw strikes.”

Nate Pearson replaced Cubs lefty Justin Steele in the sixth, only for De La Cruz to crush his first-pitch fastball 426 feet to straightaway center for his first homer as a Pirate and first since July 26.

In the ninth, Gonzales doubled to left off Daniel Palencia to drive in Reynolds, and Cruz (4 for 4) singled to right to score Gonzales to cut it to 9-5 before Cubs reliever Porter Hodge struck out Joe to end the game.

After getting only four innings from their starting pitcher for the second consecutive game — Mitch Keller allowed three runs on 97 pitches in Monday’s 18-8 loss to the Cubs — Shelton said the Pirates (62-70) are counting on phenom Paul Skenes “to rise up” while being thoughtful about his workload as the Cubs (67-66) seek a sweep in the series finale Wednesday afternoon.

“Very uncharacteristic of the fact that we don’t get more than four innings out of those guys, so it’s a spot where we need to be better and I think we will be better,” Shelton said. “But the fact that it happened on back-to-back nights against a team that’s playing really well right now is challenging.”