PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) \u2013 It was an obvious frustration that happened on the mound, in the dugout and overall with the final result Saturday in a 9-7 Pirates loss to the Reds. Starting pitcher Jared Jones said he flatly needs to be better.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It started about the outing 4.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, a walk and 4 strikeouts. The walk scored. He also had a balk and two wild pitches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that I was throwing the ball pretty good today,\u201d Jones said. \u201cEverything felt great coming out of the hand. Gave up a homer and had a messy fifth inning, so pretty frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said it was hard to feel the ball and said he just stopped throwing strikes. He didn\u2019t blame some bad breaks (error, infield hit), but there was a conversation in the dugout caught on camera of Jones walking away from catcher Endy Rodriguez, where the two appeared to have a disagreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say we got into it,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe were just trying to get on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if that impacted his start?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I need to get the ball over the plate,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time the two have worked together. Pirates manager Don Kelly said he lacked information about that situation and Rodriguez said he thought they were on the same page the whole game.<\/p>\n