Jared Jones struck out 10 in his major league debut and the Pittsburgh Pirates banged out 16 hits in a 9-3 win over the host Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates are off to their first 3-0 start since 2018.
Pittsburgh leadoff man Connor Joe, who was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs, was in the middle of much of the offensive damage.
Joe beat out a grounder to third base in the top of the third inning and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead when he came in on Edward Olivares’ RBI single to left.
An inning later, Joe ripped a double to the left to drive in Michael A. Taylor, then scored on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ RBI single for a 3-0 lead.
The Marlins pushed a pair of runs across in the bottom of the fourth on Jake Burger’s RBI double and Jesus Sanchez’s RBI single.
A throwing error by Josh Bell brought in two more runs in the top of the fifth as the Pirates extended their lead to 5-2.
The Pirates erupted for four runs on three straight two-out hits in the seventh, capped by Bryan Reynolds’ two-run ground-rule double that hopped the fence in the right-field corner to push the lead to 9-3.
Jones (1-0), a 22-year-old right-hander, held Miami hitless until Burger’s two-out RBI double in the fourth. Jones threw 62 of his 89 pitches for strikes.
Jones, a second-round pick by the Pirates in the 2020 draft, gave up three hits, walked two and allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings in his sparkling debut.
Jones didn’t allow an earned run over 16 1/3 Grapefruit League innings to earn a spot in Pittsburgh’s rotation.
Marlins left-hander Ryan Weathers (0-1) worked four innings and allowed three runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out five.
Pittsburgh went 12 innings to beat the Marlins 6-5 on Thursday, then posted a 7-2 win on Friday.
–Field Level Media