The Opener: Jones, Smith, De Paula

We’re entering magic number season. The Rays and Brewers have both trimmed their figures down to one. They can earn postseason berths on Friday. 1. Jones takes no-no into seventh The Pirates have been cautious with Jared Jones in his return from elbow surgery. He’s had to be almost perfect to toss more than 90 pitches. That’s exactly what the young righty has done in his last two starts, firing six scoreless against the Angels and seven shutout versus the White Sox. Jones carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning last night against Chicago. With two outs in the frame, shortstop Colson Montgomery pulled a 97 mph fastball for a double. Jones retired Braden Montgomery to end his night. It would’ve been interesting to see if manager Don Kelly let Jones keep going if the no-hitter remained intact. His next pitch would’ve matched a season high. 2. Smith wins it off Duran Phillies closer Jhoan Duran hadn’t allowed a home run since May coming into Thursday’s matchup against the Astros. Duran entered a tie game in the ninth inning and got the first out. Then he left a splitter up to Cam Smith, who launched it into the left-center seats for a go-ahead home run. Smith homered in all three games of the series. He has a 1.070 OPS so far in September. Houston stretched its AL West lead to three games with the win, plus a Rangers loss. 3. De Paula debuts in Miami The move hasn’t been made official, but the Dodgers are expected to promote top prospect Josue De Paula on Friday. Shohei Ohtani will head to the injured list. De Paula has torched Double-A pitching this year, posting a 145 wRC+ with 27 home runs and 31 steals. The 21-year-old has piled up 100+ runs and RBI. Manager Dave Roberts indicated the plan will be for De Paula to handle the majority of the DH duties with Ohtani sidelined. His first chance will come tonight against Ryan Gusto and the Marlins. Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images View Comments (2)