NEW YORK -- Right-hander Jared Jones, ranked as the No. 3 prospect in Pittsburgh¡¯s system and No. 57 in baseball by MLB Pipeline, had the best outing of his big league career on Tuesday night.

However, Jones received a no-decision in the Bucs¡¯ 3-1 loss to the Mets at Citi Field. It marked the first time the Pirates lost two consecutive games on the road.

¡°[Jones] is one of our good young pitchers, as he demonstrated today,¡± manager Derek Shelton said.

A 1-0 lead lost in the seventh inning spoiled a great outing from Jones. He threw 59 pitches, and only nine weren¡¯t for strikes. Jones knew going into the game that he was pitching just five innings. Shelton acknowledged that he is on an innings limit.

¡°Do you want to see me down the road or do you want to see me get shut down? That¡¯s what I think of it,¡± Jones said. ¡°It all makes sense the way he worded it and told me. It¡¯s awesome that they are looking out for me, my health. It¡¯s a good thing to see.¡±

The Mets had a tough time figuring out Jones, who allowed only one hit -- Pete Alonso¡¯s leadoff bloop double in the second. Jones then retired the next 12 hitters before leaving the game.

Jones has a four-pitch arsenal -- fastball, curveball, slider and changeup -- that couldn¡¯t be touched.

"Hopefully, it's one of those that he's healthy. You think about potential injury or something,¡± Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. ¡°There might be some innings limits. But that's a special arm there."

Jones left the game with a 1-0 lead, thanks to an RBI single by Bryan Reynolds.

¡°We had a pitch count on him today,¡± Shelton said. ¡°We knew going into the game, it would be five [innings]. ... This kid is really important to us. ... He was really good.

¡°When you are really good and you make a decision like that, people are going to wonder what¡¯s going on. He is healthy. He is good. It was something predetermined.¡±

With Pittsburgh leading by a run going into the bottom of the seventh, right-hander Luis Ortiz had problems during his second inning on the mound. Francisco Lindor reached on a walk and Alonso followed with a single to left before pinch-hitter Joey Wendle doubled down the left-field corner, scoring Lindor and tying the game at 1.

After Francisco Alvarez¡¯s flyout to left, Ortiz was taken out of the game in favor of left-hander Jose Hernandez. With Jeff McNeil at the plate, Hernandez committed a balk, which allowed Alonso to score the go-ahead run.

Hernandez started to deliver the pitch, but then suddenly stopped.

¡°That really was a balk,¡± Shelton said. ¡°The umpires did a good job. The reason the umpires got together, which everyone wonders, was to make sure [McNeil] was in the box. If he is not in the box and engaged, it can¡¯t be a balk, yet, because time is not in play. It was a balk.¡±

New York then added to the lead when McNeil flickered a double down the left-field corner to score Wendle.

¡°If you go back and look at it, we have to stay away from walks,¡± Shelton said. ¡°The [walk] hurt us. We get the first-pitch out on a ground ball and then we get a walk. We have to stay away from walks and it came back to bite us.¡±