Jared Jones delivers quality start, but Orioles beat up Pirates bullpen in home opener

The Pittsburgh Pirates got a ceremonial first pitch from a legendary manager who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, a quality start from a rookie right-hander and a pair of home runs in the home opener.

What they didn’t get was a win.

The Baltimore Orioles played the spoiler, beating up the bullpen for three runs on the way to a 5-2 victory Friday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 38,400 at PNC Park.

After Hall of Fame electee Jim Leyland threw the first pitch to Pirates manager Derek Shelton, Jared Jones (1-1) delivered his first quality start for the Pirates (6-2). The 22-year-old rookie struck out seven while surrendering two solo home runs out of six hits without a walk against a team that won 101 games and the AL East title last season.

“That lineup’s really good. I’m sure they’re gonna be in the playoffs this year, and pitching the way I did and only having two pitches as mistakes, it’s good signs,” said Jones, who learned a valuable lesson. “Yeah, my stuff plays. That’s first and foremost, and that’s what’s most encouraging about getting up here and pitching the way I’m pitching so far.”

Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (2-0) had an almost identical pitching line while relying upon what Shelton described as an “elite” changeup that is effective against both lefties and righties. Rodriguez gave up six hits, including two solo homers, and two walks while striking out seven in 6 1/3 innings for Baltimore (5-2).

“If you like baseball and you like young, big arms,” Shelton said, “you would really like to watch our game today.”

With a call for fans to create a blackout by dressing in black clothes, the Pirates faithful instead endured a brief whiteout of snow flurries and two hailstorms as the three rivers rose and temperatures dropped.

Jones provided some heat, filling up the strike zone and pitching with conviction from the start. His first pitch to Gunnar Henderson was a 97.7-mph four-seam fastball, with incremental increases to 97.9 and 98.9 in a three-pitch strikeout. Jones got Adley Rutschman swinging on a fastball that touched 99.5 before Anthony Santander lined out to center.

“Every time he goes out there, you know he’s going to pitch a good game,” Pirates second baseman Jared Triolo said. “The first inning was awesome. Hearing the crowd, the way they reacted to him, was pretty cool.”

Jones mixed his slider in the second, but the Orioles caught on, as Ryan O’Hearn smacked an 0-1 fastball 389 feet to center for a home run and 1-0 lead. With two outs, Jones hit Jordan Westburg with a pitch, then gave up a single to Colton Cowser to put runners on the corners but got Ramon Urias to ground into a forceout.

The Orioles tagged Jones for another solo shot in the third, as Henderson hit an 0-1 changeup 407 feet to straightaway center for a 2-0 lead.

The Pirates, meantime, stranded five runners through the first three innings. Andrew McCutchen, sitting one home run shy of his 300th, flied out to right with two on in the first inning and popped foul to third base with runners on the corners to end the third inning. Shelton credited Rodriguez for his pitch execution.

“He kept us off-balance,” Shelton said of Rodriguez, who threw 64 of his 97 pitches for strikes. “We had an opportunity in the third to get on the board, and he just made pitches. We weren’t able to do that.”

Jones also proved he could handle adversity, even as the Southern California native pitched in snow for the first time in his life.

O’Hearn led off the fourth with a triple on a fly ball that dropped after an apparent miscommunication between center fielder Michael A. Taylor and right fielder Bryan Reynolds. Cedric Mullins then was ruled safe on a grounder to first that Rowdy Tellez mishandled before flipping to Triolo but was overturned upon review. Jones then got Cowser swinging on a 98.1-mph fastball for his fifth strikeout.

“He continues to show us things that make us continue to realize why he’s going to be a good major-league pitcher,” Shelton said.

Oneil Cruz cut the Pirates’ deficit in half with one swing when Rodriguez left a changeup over the middle, sending it 377 feet to the right-field seats for his second homer to make it 2-1 in the fifth.

With Jones at 80 pitches and his fastball velocity dropping a few ticks, Shelton chose not to have him face the Orioles lineup a fourth time. So he turned the seventh over to lefty Ryan Borucki, who struck out pinch hitter Austin Hays but gave up successive singles to Urias, Henderson and Rutschman, whose liner to left drove in Urias for a 3-1 Orioles lead.

Hunter Stratton replaced Borucki, only for Santander to hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line for an RBI double to score Henderson and make it 4-1.

Triolo led off the bottom of the seventh by sending Rodriguez’s first-pitch fastball 411 feet into the visiting bullpen for his first home run of the season in his first home opener.

But Mullins started the eighth by driving Stratton’s 2-0 cutter 366 feet and off the right-field foul pole for a home run and 5-2 Orioles lead. Baltimore struck out 10 of the final 14 Pirates hitters, as Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel retired the side in the ninth to earn the save.

Despite the loss, the Pirates were encouraged by Jones’ start.

“His stuff plays,” Shelton said of Jones, who drew 21 swinging strikes and got seven called strikes. “That’s one of the best lineups in baseball right there. They grind through at-bats, they put the ball in play, which we saw in the seventh. They didn’t hit a ton of balls hard but they put the ball in play. And he was very impressive.”