Pirates take perfect game into seventh inning, lose 3-0
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jared Jones delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Pittsburgh, Wednesday. (AP Photo)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The NL East-leading Atlanta Braves broke up a combined perfect-game bid by Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers Jared Jones and Mason Montgomery in the seventh inning Wednesday night. Jones started and struck out eight on 77 pitches, including 53 strikes, before being replaced by Montgomery at the start of the seventh. Montgomery got Michael Harris II to ground out to first before allowing a single to left field by Ozzie Albies, ending the bid at 6 1/3 innings. Atlanta catcher Joey Bart hit a two-run home run off Dennis Santana with two outs in the eighth and the Braves won 3-0. The 24-year-old Jones hasn’t thrown more than 81 pitches in eight starts since returning May 20 after missing all of last season following ulnar collateral ligament internal brace surgery on May 21, 2025. “It was fun. Felt good the whole game. It was just fun playing baseball,” Jones said. “It does suck. Something’s cool coming on, but I’m on what? My eighth start off of surgery? I completely understand it, and it is what it is.” Pirates manager Don Kelly said Jones was originally pegged for five innings, but was efficient enough to warrant a sixth. “It’s a tough one, man,” Kelly said. “We’ve talked about it before. Health is the most important thing. Winning the game and then personal accomplishments (is) third. Wanting guys to stay healthy is the No. 1 thing with these guys because we need Jared for the rest of the season throwing the ball like that.” Jones started the game with 10 straight fastballs, five topping 100 mph. His bid was nearly ended by Bart in the third inning, but a long fly ball to left off Jones’ slider was grabbed by Bryan Reynolds at the wall. He then struck out five of the next seven batters. “I felt like I threw it where I needed to, except for the Joey Bart at-bat where he almost took me yard,” Jones said. “But outside of that, yeah, everything felt great today.” A second-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft, Jones is 7-9 with a 4.19 ERA in two seasons in the majors. He lowered his ERA this season to 4.37 from 5.28 entering Wednesday. Jones said he didn’t entertain attempting to complete the perfect game. “Not with the pitch count,” he said. “Not really ever expecting to go nine right now, so that was never in my head.” The Miami Marlins faced a nearly identical dilemma on Sunday when Eury Pérez used 92 pitches make it through seven perfect innings with eight strikeouts in his third start back from a leg strain. He was pulled for Lake Bachar to start the eighth and the Marlins allowed eight runs to the Athletics in the final two innings, but held on to win 9-8. On Wednesday, Jones became the first pitcher in Pirates history to depart with a perfect game intact after at least six innings. “His health is too important,” Kelly said. “Having not even approached anything like nine innings, and at 80 pitches, in essence, already, you’re looking at 120 coming off of surgery. There was no way.” There have been 24 perfect games in major league history. Most recently, Domingo Germán struck out nine in an 11-0 win for the New York Yankees against the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum on June 28, 2023. On May 25, the Houston Astros provided the latest of 327 no-hitters in the history of the majors. Tatsuya Imai walked four and struck out two in the first six innings of a 9-0 win against the Texas Rangers before Steven Okert walked one in his only inning inning and Alimber Santa was perfect in the final two. BLUE JAYS 10, GIANTS 0 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Toronto’s Dylan Cease worked eight no-hit innings against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday before allowing a single to Heliot Ramos leading off the ninth as the Blue Jays rolled to a 10-0 victory. Cease (6-4) was pulled after Ramos’ clean line-drive single to center and got a standing ovation from the San Francisco crowd. The All-Star right-hander threw a career-high 118 pitches, 81 for strikes. Former Giants reliever Tyler Rogers got the final three outs on four pitches. Cease struck out 11 to increase his American League-leading total to 148. BRAVES 3, PIRATES 0 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joey Bart hit a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the NL East-leading Atlanta to a win over his former team after Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones pitched six perfect innings before being lifted. Bart, traded to the Braves from the Pirates on June 18, followed a double by Mike Yastrzemski with a 422-foot drive to left-centerfield off a slider from Dennis Santana (2-4). Drake Baldwin added an RBI single to center in the ninth. Jones struck out eight on 77 pitches, including 53 strikes, to lower his ERA to 4.37 from 5.28. His bid was nearly ended by Bart with one out in the third, but a long drive to left was caught at the wall by Bryan Reynolds. RAYS 3, YANKEES 0 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jonathan Aranda drove in three runs, Shane McClanahan pitched 6 1/3 innings and Tampa Bay beat New York to extend their AL East lead to five games. McClanahan (8-5) scattered four hits and struck out five without a walk on 85 pitches. He had his longest outing of the season and his second consecutive start without giving up a run. Bryan Baker struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 25th save. The Rays have struck out the Yankees 45 times in the first three games of the series. MARLINS 2, MARINERS 0 MIAMI (AP) — Kyle Stowers homered, major league batting leader Otto López had his 40th multi-hit game and Miami beat Seattle. Tyler Phillips (2-3) pitched five sharp innings, allowing four hits on 71 pitches, before three relievers finished off Miami’s fifth straight victory. The Marlins are a major league-best 25-8 since June 1. López went 2 for 4, increasing his average to .345 and becoming the first player since Houston’s Jose Altuve in 2014 with 40 multi-hit games before the All-Star break. His fifth-inning double tied Luis Arraez in 2023 for the most hits by a Marlins player before the All-Star break at 126. Xavier Edwards added an RBI triple on a two-hit night. TIGERS 6, ATHLETICS 1 DETROIT (AP) — Jake Rogers and Spencer Torkelson homered and Detroit won their fourth straight game, beating the Athletics. Troy Melton (5-1) allowed one unearned run on four hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out nine as the Tigers won for the seventh time in eight games. Jeffrey Springs (3-9) took the loss for the Athletics, who have lost five straight and nine of 10. He gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings to fall to 0-9 in his last 15 starts. NATIONALS 8, ASTROS 2 WASHINGTON (AP) — CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr. both hit their 20th homers of the season, and Washington pounded Houston. Foster Griffin (10-2) allowed one run in seven innings for Washington, which took two of three from Houston to move two games over .500. Griffin’s 10 victories are the most for a Nationals rookie since the club moved from Montreal before the 2005 season. Brice Matthews had Houston’s lone RBI on a fifth-inning single. CUBS 9, ORIOLES 7 BALTIMORE (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two of Chicago’s five home runs and the Cubs outslugged Baltimore. Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly also went deep on the first two pitches of the fifth inning for Chicago, tying the game immediately after Pete Alonso’s two-run shot had given Baltimore a 3-1 lead. Chicago then scored five runs in the seventh, including a three-run shot by Seiya Suzuki. Tyler O’Neill homered twice for Baltimore and Coby Mayo also went deep. METS 6, ROYALS 2 NEW YORK (AP) — Jared Young was plunked with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, sparking a five-run rally that lifted New York to a win over Kansas City. Young took a 90 mph slider off his right elbow by Alex Lange (0-4), who allowed five straight baserunners with two outs. Brett Baty chased Lange with a two-run single and Young scored on a wild pitch by Jose Cuas, who then allowed an RBI single to Francisco Alvarez. Brooks Raley (3-3) worked around Lane Thomas’ double in the eighth. Rookie A.J. Ewing hit his first career leadoff homer, a 420-foot blast off opener Steven Cruz. Ewing is the fifth Mets player to hit a leadoff homer this season. Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen had RBI singles for the Royals. CARDINALS 5, BREWERS 1 ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alec Burleson and José Fermín homered, Michael McGreevy worked 6 1/3 strong innings and St. Louis snapped a seven-game losing streak against Milwaukee. McGreevy (4-7) struck out six and allowed five hits and one run on his 26th birthday. The 26-year-old right-hander in his third big league campaign made his career-high 18th start of the season. After the Cardinals’ Masyn Winn hit a leadoff double in the first, Jordan Walker followed with an RBI double and Burleson drove in Walker with the third double of the inning. Walker was 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Fermín hit a 404-foot solo homer to left-center in the fourth, extending the lead to 3-0. Burleson homered on a cutter from Jared Koenig that traveled an estimated 443 feet to right in the sixth. Kyle Harrison (8-2) allowed four hits and three runs in four innings, striking out two in the loss. Garrett Mitchell led the Brewers with a single and a double. RED SOX 5, WHITE SOX 0 CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Bennett allowed four hits in seven innings, Tsung-Che Cheng had his first multi-RBI game and Boston beat the Chicago for their fifth straight victory. Boston has won 10 of 12 and and 13 of its last 18. Bennett (4-3) has allowed more than two runs just twice in eight starts. He struck out four and walked one. Cheng had an RBI single in the third to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, and Ceddanne Rafaela drove in Cheng two batters later. Anthony Seigler came across on a wild pitch from Davis Martin (9-4), but Seigler left the game after a collision with catcher Kyle Teel at the plate. ANGELS 13, RANGERS 1 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in his return rom the injured list, Jo Adell had two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs and the Los Angeles beat Texas. Trout, who missed 17 games due to a strained right hamstring, hit a 438-foot shot that gave the Angels an 11-0 lead in the eighth. Trout has 48 career homers against the Rangers, the most by any player since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972 and the second-most ever against the club. Reggie Jackson hit 54 home runs against the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers. Adell hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning and a three-run homer in the fifth that made it 7-0. Vaughn Grissom went 4 for 5 with a double and four RBIs, and Zach Neto was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three runs. Denzer Guzman and Jose Siri each had two hits. Angels starter Walbert Ureña threw 90 pitches and walked five in four scoreless innings before he was replaced by Samy Natera Jr. (1-0) to begin the fifth. Natera, a rookie left-hander, had five strikeouts in two perfect innings for his first career win. TWINS 6, GUARDIANS 5 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alan Roden hit a game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning as Minnesota beat Cleveland for their fourth straight win over the Guardians. The Twins have won four in a row and five of six overall. Roden singled twice and drove in two runs. Kody Clemens went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Brooks Lee singled twice and drove in a pair of runs. Yoendrys Gómez (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for his first win this season. Brayan Rocchio and Rhys Hoskins homered for the Guardians. DODGERS 4, ROCKIES 3 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mookie Betts singled in the go-ahead run with two strikes in the eighth inning, lifting Los Angeles to a victory over Colorado in the series finale. Betts ended the nine-pitch at-bat with his hit to center off Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela (8-1) that scored Tommy Edman, who singled and moved to third on Freddie Freeman’s double. The Dodgers took two of three to prevent Colorado from winning its first series at Dodger Stadium since August 2021. The Rockies loaded the bases against reliever Alex Vesia in the eighth, but Edgardo Henriquez (4-0) came in and got Karros to fly out for the third out. Tanner Scott retired the side in the ninth to earn his 13th save. PADRES 10, D-BACKS 4 SAN DIEGO (AP) — Luis Campusano homered, Miguel Andujar had a career-high three doubles along with two RBIs and San Diego beat Arizona to get back to .500. Michael King (6-7) pitched six strong innings for the Padres, who tied their season high in runs and won for just the third time in 12 games. The Padres and Diamondbacks came into the night 14 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West and five games out of the third wild-card spot, with three teams ahead of them. San Diego had been one-half game ahead of Los Angeles after it beat the Dodgers 1-0 behind King in San Diego on May 18. But the Padres lost the next night and began slipping further behind their rivals. King allowed one run and four hits, struck out four and walked two.