A 'learning experience': Jones struggles in 1st start off IL

PITTSBURGH -- It was a night of returns for the Pirates at PNC Park on Tuesday. Henry Davis made his first start behind the plate since being recalled and got a hit. Carmen Mlodzinski was activated off the injured list and struck out a trio of Cubs over two scoreless innings.

But the most anticipated return was Jared Jones, who was back after missing nearly two months with a lat muscle strain, which put a pause to what was a terrific first half of the season. He and his fastball came back on Tuesday, but the breaking ball wasn’t there, and the Cubs were finally able to break through in a five-run fourth inning to beat the Pirates, 9-5.

"Health-wise, I felt really healthy the whole time,” Jones said. “That's the good thing, but I couldn't land an offspeed pitch the entire day. Pitching like that in the Major Leagues is pretty tough."

Jones usually leans heavily on his four-seam fastball and slider, but without the latter, he mixed in more curveballs and changeups than usual to find that second offering to work with, but couldn’t find it. He navigated around some hard contact to post three scoreless innings the first time through the order, but the second time around, the Cubs were ready for the fastball.

Seiya Suzuki landed a two-run home run just over the 21-foot wall in right field to tie the game at 2, and Dansby Swanson later capped the inning with another two-run shot off a fastball that Davis called for high and up and instead landed belt high.

“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,” manager Derek Shelton said. “... Once he started with that, he started to kinda cut across [the plate] with the fastball. He just lost the zone, and had to come back in the zone to Dansby with the fastball. He's a veteran hitter that knows he's pretty much getting a fastball. He didn't miss it."

The Cubs would tack on four more runs in the fifth inning, due in large part to Nick Gonzales flubbing a potential inning-ending double-play ball. Shelton turned to Ben Heller, who allowed the two runners he inherited to score and two more of his own -- due in large part to back-to-back bases loaded walks -- to effectively put the game out of reach.

The focus should remain on Jones though, and not because it was an off start. He’s proved that he is going to be an integral part of this rotation moving forward, and him getting back on a Major League mound for the first time since July 3 is a good first step.

The Pirates want their young pitchers to finish out the season, and while they still need to be very mindful of his health moving forward, the inning volume concerns they had have pretty much been alleviated.

It was an off start, one that he’s going to dive into the video on and “dial it down in the bullpen.”

"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."