There’s a thing that happens when a young player gets his first real chance — the nerves either eat him alive or he swings like he’s been waiting his whole life for that pitch. Jacob Gonzalez swung like the latter. Making his first start for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Cleveland, the kid turned on a Gavin Williams offering and sent it 428 feet into the right-field seats. Two-run shot. Ballgame changed right there.
Pittsburgh rolled to a 7-1 win over the Guardians, extending their winning streak to four and improving to 51-47 — the first time they’ve been four games over .500 after the All-Star break since September 2018. That’s a long drought in baseball years. Like a ranch truck sitting through three winters before anyone turns the key. But the engine’s catching now.
Gonzalez put the Pirates on the board in the early innings with that two-run drive off Williams (10-5), who gave up five runs on seven hits across six innings. It was only the second time in Williams’ four-year big-league career that he’s coughed up three home runs in a single game. Esmerlyn Valdez added a two-run homer to right-center in the sixth, and Nick Gonzales followed with a solo shot in the same frame. Pittsburgh’s 128 home runs rank fifth in the majors.
But the story of this ballgame was Jared Jones on the mound. The right-hander struck out nine over five innings, scattered three hits, walked one, and gave up a single run. He retired the first eight Cleveland hitters before Steven Kwan’s base hit to left broke the string. That matters more than the box score shows. Dating back to his July 2 start against Philadelphia — which included six perfect innings in a no-decision against Atlanta on July 8 — Jones became just the third Pirates pitcher since 1957 to retire at least 30 consecutive batters across multiple outings. Harvey Haddix did it in 1959. Jim Bibby in 1981. That’s the kind of company that doesn’t need a spreadsheet to explain. The film doesn’t lie.
Cleveland’s lone run came in the third, when All-Star rookie second baseman Travis Bazzana tripled to drive in Kwan. The Guardians had a four-game winning streak snapped. Sometimes you run into a buzzsaw, and Jones was spinning pretty good on Saturday.
Williams took the loss, falling to 10-5 on the year. Jones improved to 2-1. The nightcap was set for Cleveland’s Logan Allen making his first start of the season, with the Pirates expected to go with a bullpen game — no opener named.
For Pittsburgh, the math is starting to look real. Four over .500 after the break, power up and down the lineup, and a young arm stringing together zeroes like it’s nothing. You don’t need analytics to tell you what a four-game win streak in July means. You just need to watch who’s swinging loose and who’s leaving the yard. Gonzalez, in his first start, did both.