The rotation of the Pittsburgh Pirates has seen some real struggles this season.

Paul Skenes has headlined that discussion, as his departure from the Cy Young, NL Rookie of the Year award-winning pitcher into a slightly more average arm has troubled some fans. Mitch Keller, the team’s most struggling starter, has also garnered discussion as his ERA has ballooned north of five.

But Jared Jones has also struggled to re-establish himself at the major league level.

After a 22-start rookie season which saw him record a 4.14 ERA, 1.192 WHIP, and 3.38 strikeout-to-walk ratio, hopes were high that the righty could build upon that after missing all of 2025 and the opening months of 2026 recovering from surgery.

His first two games were a reminder of the unpredictable journey a starter can have after such a long time away from major league batting.

In 4.1 innings against Minnesota in his season debut, Jones surrendered seven hits, five earned runs, two home runs, and a pair of walks to go along with six strikeouts. In his second start, however, Jones tossed five scoreless frames and struck out four in a win on the road in Houston.

But by and large, Jones hadn’t quite looked like himself yet. Through his first seven starts back in the bigs, the 24-year-old had posted a 5.28 ERA, 1.379 WHIP, and 2.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The less than stellar performance, combined with a pitch count plan that has limited Jones and put the game in the hands of a very shaky unit has put the Pirates in some trouble during Jones starts this year.

So as he tries to turn the corner and get back to the flame-throwing style that brought him success two years ago, he literally couldn’t have had a better start to that mission than Wednesday night.

In the second of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves and following up a bounce-back start of sorts by Skenes the night before, Jones threw a perfect game through six innings and gave the Pirates every chance to win on Wednesday.

He stared down an offense that was top-ten in runs per game, and for the first time in his career retired the first 18 batters he faced. Through those six scoreless frames, Jones racked up a season-high eight strikeouts and only put one ball in danger (where his left fielder Bryan Reynolds bailed him out).

Tragically, the pitch count Jones is operating under meant he was lifted after the sixth inning in favor of lefty Mason Montgomery, who came on to face a round of left-handed batters. Perhaps too fittingly, Montgomery broke the perfect game (and no-hitter) in his second at-bat, when a shot by Ozzie Albies tipped off the glove of Nick Gonzales and into the outfield grass.

And unfortunately, the bullpen was not able to hold it. Dennis Santana surrendered two runs in the eighth, and Isaac Mattson widened the gap to 3-0 in the ninth.

But there was so much to like from this Jones start. Aside from the obvious 18 up and 18 down, this was the first game where Jones had pitched into the sixth inning. And doing so at just 77 pitches, there’s hope that maybe he can start to provide the Pirates with a few more outs than many of his starts have offered as his pitch count slowly builds up into the 80s and 90s.

He was the most effective we have ever seen, and now he can ride that momentum into the All Star break and gain some confidence before the Pirates will really need him for the stretch run.