The Pittsburgh Pirates didn't give Jared Jones a chance to make history on Wednesday night.
Jones worked six perfect innings in 77 pitches before manager Don Kelly pulled his starter. Mason Montgomery allowed a hit to Ozzie Albies in the seventh, and Dennis Santana and Isaac Mattson proceeded to surrender three runs in a shutout loss to the Atlanta Braves.
After the game, per MLB.com's Aiden Stepansky, Kelly discussed his unpopular decision to take out Jones with a perfect game. He didn't want to overextend the 24-year-old hurler, who had missed over a year recovering from an internal brace surgery before returning on May 29.
“That sucks,” Kelly said of pulling Jones. "Under normal circumstances, a perfect game, he'd continue to go. Coming off of surgery and everything, we just can't push him."
Jones had only completed five innings in one of seven outings before Wednesday's spotless effort. The Pirates haven't let him throw more than 81 pitches in a start, and he went an inning more than anticipated against Atlanta.
“Health is the most important thing, winning the game and then personal accomplishments third," Kelly said. "Wanting guys to stay healthy is the number one thing with these guys, because we need Jared for the rest of the season. Throwing the ball like that, trying to push him right now, when he's only had five ups to go, there's no way."
Jones now has a 4.37 ERA and 1.14 WHIP following his most promising start of the season. The hard-throwing righty didn't fault Kelly for the early hook.
"Yeah, I mean, it does suck, something cool is coming on," Jones said of leaving the game. "But I’m on, what, my eighth start off the surgery? I completely understand it. It is what it is."