The Pirates did what modern pitching dictates, and it cost them a shot at baseball history.
Don Kelly pulled Jared Jones after six perfect innings Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves, and PNC Park let him hear it. Jones had thrown 77 pitches, was operating under a pitch count, and was still in the middle of a night that had the crowd thinking about something rare. Instead, the perfect game ended there.
That decision was never going to be popular. It was also the correct one.
Jones is just over a year removed from internal brace surgery on his UCL, and the Pirates have been careful with him since his return in May. He was making just his eighth start back from surgery, and the team had set the line at five innings or 80 pitches, whichever came first.
He got through six innings and 77 pitches, but Pittsburgh wasn’t going to gamble with a pitcher it views as a major piece of its future. Jones is under contract through 2029, and the Pirates clearly decided that preserving him mattered more than chasing a historic moment.
Kelly didn’t try to dress it up afterward. “Health is the most important thing, winning the game and then personal accomplishments third,” Kelly said after the game.
“Wanting guys to stay healthy is the number one thing with these guys, because we need Jared for the rest of the season. Throwing the ball like that, trying to push him right now, when he's only had five ups to go, there's no way.”
Jones, for his part, wasn’t thrilled, but he understood the call given where he is in his recovery.
The frustration came from what the move took away. Fans were already on edge after Ryan O'Hearn’s 10-RBI night a day earlier, a performance that made him just the 17th player in MLB history to reach that mark. Jones had a chance to author a different kind of entry into the record book, and the Pirates shut the door on it in the sixth.
That kind of thing has become more common than it used to be. One post pointed out that from 1901 to 2015, pitchers were pulled with a perfect game of 6+ innings zero times in 115 years.
From 2016 to 2025, it happened three times in 10 years. This week alone, it happened twice in four days.
And then came the part that made the Pirates’ night even uglier: the bullpen couldn’t finish the job. Not only did Pittsburgh fail to preserve the perfect game, it also blew the lead. Jones became the first starting pitcher in the modern era to throw six perfect innings and still lose the game.
That leaves the Pirates with the uncomfortable split that defined Wednesday night. They made the right decision for Jones’ arm.
They also made the wrong kind of history, and their bullpen turned a chance at something unforgettable into another painful entry in a season that keeps finding new ways to sting. Ben Cherington now has another mess to sort through, because the relief corps failed Jones and may have helped waste yet another Pirates opportunity.
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