Pirates’ Jared Jones expected to miss more than 2 weeks, says manager Derek Shelton

Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Jared Jones was placed on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a strained latissimus dorsi muscle in his right leg. However, before Friday’s series opener against the New York Mets, manager Derek Shelton told reporters that the right-hander will likely be out longer than two weeks.

Shelton said Jones likely won’t pitch again for two weeks and after that, the Pirates will re-evaluate the pitcher before deciding how to move forward.

A 15-day IL stint would take Jones into the All-Star break, but recovering after a layoff means he likely won’t return until late July or early August.

Jones was removed from his starting role on Wednesday after five innings, which many assumed was done for load management reasons. The Pirates have monitored The rookie pitch and inning countskipping Jones’ final turn in the rotation (scheduled for June 28) to give him more rest. He threw one live batting practice during the 10-day break.

Following Jones’ start against the Cardinals, Shelton said he was pulled out of the game out of “abundance of caution.” Before being pulled, the rookie allowed one run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts on 78 pitches.

Jones admitted he felt tightness in his right lat and was taken off after telling trainers, but insisted there was “nothing to worry about.”

In 16 starts this season, Jones has a 3.56 ERA (ranking 10th among rookie starting pitchers) with 98 strikeouts in 91 innings and a 5-6 record.

Despite having a 41-45 record entering Friday’s game, the Pirates are four games out of the final NL wild-card playoff spot. (There are, however, four teams above them in the standings.)