NewsJones gives Bucs lift with big bat
Finishes single shy of cycle in second game with club
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
07/02/09 8:25 PM ET
PITTSBURGH -- The addition of Garrett Jones, as manager John Russell has repeated for the past three days, was designed to provide this offense with some pop. A team too often reliant on small ball needed a big presence, and the 6-foot-4 Jones was summoned to be that guy.Jones arrived on Tuesday and earned his first start the next day, only to go 0-for-4 without getting a ball out of the infield. But he made his official introduction on Thursday.
Aiding a power-depleted lineup, Jones fell a single short of the cycle on a day that only the Pirates' 9-8, 10-inning loss to the Mets could dampen.
"I felt more relaxed than I did yesterday getting the first game out of the way," Jones said after the game. "I just tried to have good at-bats today."
Jones began a three-run second with a double, his first hit in the Majors since singling against the Red Sox back on Sept. 28, 2007, while playing for the Twins. It was his first hit with Pittsburgh, and it was a big one, setting the tone for a three-run inning in which he'd score the game's first run.
An inning later, Jones had his second Major League triple, made possible when Mets center fielder Ryan Church was unable to make a diving catch on Jones' line drive to left-center. With the hit, Jones had his first RBI of the game and set in motion a two-run inning for Pittsburgh.
"This is what he's been doing the whole year -- driving the ball," said Andrew McCutchen, who was Jones' teammates at Triple-A for two months earlier this season. "When they make a mistake, he makes them pay. It's real good to have someone like that there."
Jones would then cap his day with a solo homer off Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano in the seventh.
"That's what we knew Garrett could do," Russell said. "He can provide some punch in the offense. Offensively, we got him in there and some guys started swinging better. That's what we're looking for, what we did today."
Jones, who said he has never hit for the cycle at any level, had two other at-bats in the game with which to get a single. He nearly got it in the fifth, when he lined out to reliever Brian Stokes. In the ninth, Jones grounded out to second.
Russell has said that he intends to give Jones every opportunity to prove himself as an everyday starter, and Thursday's performance -- one in which he had three extra-base hits for a team that had just four total in the previous three-game series -- should go a long way to help.
The three-hit game was Jones' second at the Major League level, with the first coming back in '07, during his brief big league stint with Minnesota. The power potential, though, was nothing surprising, as Jones had knocked 18 doubles and 12 homers in 72 games with Triple-A Indianapolis.
"Hopefully, I'll keep getting in there and continue to drive in runs," Jones said. "I need to prove myself and prove that I belong here. I think I'm going to do that."
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
