It’s been about a month and a half since we’ve seen Jared Jones take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 23-year old who went down with a lat injury in early July made up one half of a stellar rookie pitching duo, along with Paul Skenes.

Jones had made the team out of spring training and recorded 16 starts for the club, posting a 5-6 record with a 3.56 ERA, 1.110 WHIP, and 98 strikeouts in 91.0 innings pitched. He was an incredibly important piece of Pittsburgh’s starter rotation, and the club desperately could have used him in the time he’s been gone.

A week ago, Jones was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis on a rehab assignment (along with Joshua Palacios), where the hope was to get Jones some solid work with the Indians before activating him off the IL and bringing him back to the big club.

However, things have not necessarily gone to plan.

In his first rehab assignment, coming on August 8th against the Nashville Sounds, Jones recovered from a rocky start early on. He walked the leadoff batter before allowing a home run to former Pirate Vinny Capra, erasing the 1-0 lead that the Indians had established in the top of the first.

That was the only hit that Jones allowed, and he retired the next eight batters in the game before being replaced by Geronimo Franzua. In all, Jones went 2.2 innings with 2 earned runs, but was charged with the loss.

Despite the home run, his work during the rest of his appearance was encouraging, and if he could continue that in his second rehab start, a ticket back to Pittsburgh likely had his name on it.

Today, however, might have put a damper on that excitement. Jones was sent back out to take on the St. Paul Saints, but he struggled mightily in his outing. Jones allowed three consecutive doubles in the first inning that contributed to a 3-0 deficit. The third run was not charged to Jones, thanks to a throwing error by catcher Jason Delay.

Jones had a clean second inning, but allowed a pair of runs to score again in thee third inning. He was replaced midway through the fourth by Isaac Mattson. When his day was done, Jones had allowed 5 doubles, 4 earned runs, and 7 total hits in 3.1 innings against St. Paul.

In 6.0 total rehab innings, Jones has surrendered 9 hits, 7 earned runs, and struck out 6 while walking 2. Those are not the kind of numbers you hoped to see Jones put together in Triple-A.

Sure, Jones hasn’t pitched in over a month, but is it more than just rust that Jones is trying to shake off? These kind of struggles is not something we saw from him in the major leagues all season. Today was particularly discouraging.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the Pirates do after they get a chance to evaluate today’s performance. The team has desperately needed him since he went down with injury, but those rehab starts, particularly the one today, aren’t inspiring in the slightest.

Do the Pirates extend Jones’ time in Triple-A? Is a longer rehab assignment all he needs to correct these issues? Or are his struggles perhaps something a little bit bigger?

Only time will truly tell, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see Jones in Pittsburgh quite as soon as we all had hoped.