Jared Jones gave the Pirates the kind of September start that settles a ballpark. He carried a perfect game into the sixth inning Tuesday at PNC Park, worked seven scoreless frames and sent Pittsburgh to a 2-0 win over the Cardinals—its fifth straight victory.
The result
Pittsburgh reached 80 wins for the fifth time since 1993, extending a streak that began with a series-ending win over Milwaukee last Thursday before a weekend sweep of Kansas City.
Jones allowed only one hit, struck out nine and faced the minimum through the first 16 Cardinals. The wind was blowing in hard, but the right-hander did not need much help: he mixed strikeouts with soft contact and needed just 59 pitches to complete five perfect innings.
Nathan Church broke up both the perfect-game bid and the no-hitter with one out in the sixth, sending a ball the other way past third baseman Jacob Gonzalez and into left field for a double. Jones left Church at second, preserving a scoreless game.
The Pirates answered immediately in the bottom of the inning. Oneil Cruz came home on Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single, giving Pittsburgh the first run of the night. A wild pitch added insurance in the seventh.
Jones departed after 86 pitches, having continued a strong finish to his season. In three September starts, he has yielded three runs across 18 innings. The month has also provided another marker in his return from the internal brace procedure on his right arm in May 2025.
There have been glimpses of this ceiling before. Jones threw six perfect innings against Atlanta on July 8 before a high pitch count ended his afternoon, then took a no-hit effort into the seventh against the White Sox in Chicago on Sept. 10. After an uneven August, he has found his command and efficiency again when Pittsburgh needed it.
Luke Weaver and Gregory Soto handled the late innings to finish the shutout.
The rotation next
Jones is lined up to make Pittsburgh’s final start of the regular season Sunday.
