Jared Jones hitting career-high innings mark should lead to closer Pirates management

Right-hander Jared Jones earned his sixth win of the season Sunday, as the Pittsburgh Pirates cruised to a 7-3 defeat of the Washington Nationals at PNC Park.

Jones spun seven innings, matching a career high, while allowing two runs on four hits and striking out nine. His nine whiffs were his most in a single start since the beginning of May.

Jones allowed single runs in each of the first two innings against the Nationals before retiring the final 16 batters he faced, including striking out five of the final six. It was his 11th quality start in 19 appearances this season, and second consecutive quality start, which feels notableafter he struggled in his first game back from the injured list on Aug. 27 following nearly two months off with a lat injury.

Pirates fans should not be alarmed if Jared Jones doesn't match his career-high innings mark again this season

With the Pirates out of playoff contention, Jones is a natural candidate to be limited over the final few weeks of the season. The same could be said about fellow rookie Paul Skenes, but Pirates manager Derek Shelton quieted any speculation about Skenes potentially being shut down for the rest of the season in late August when he said the right-hander would instead see a limited workload, involving an extra day or two of rest between scheduled starts.

Since the beginning of August, Skenes has been limited to six innings or fewer in each of his last six starts. He only reached the 100-pitch mark in two of those starts. It's reasonable to expect the Pirates to employ a similar workload management strategy with Jones down the stretch, especially since he missed significant time this season due to injury.

In the cases of both Skenes and Jones, the Pirates are wise to avoid shutting them down completely before the end of the season. They may no longer be playing for a postseason berth, but they are playing for 2025, when the pair of rookies will be expected to anchor Pittsburgh's pitching staff, along with staff ace Mitch Keller. If nothing else, this final month of the 2024 campaign offers them an opportunity to experience September baseball in a low-stakes environment, which will be a valuable development tool as they prepare for next season and beyond.

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