NEW YORK (AP) — Although the Pittsburgh Pirates lost a close ballgame Tuesday night, they might have found their future ace.

And like it or not, they’re going to handle him with kid gloves.

Rookie right-hander Jared Jones fired five shutout innings in his fourth major league start, throwing 50 of 59 pitches for strikes during a dominant performance against the New York Mets.

“That’s a special arm,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

Featuring a 97-99 mph fastball and a nasty 90-92 mph slider, Jones struck out seven, walked none and allowed just one hit. Even he was wowed by his astounding strike-to-ball ratio.

But with the 22-year-old pitching on four days’ rest for the first time in the majors, he was pulled by manager Derek Shelton after five innings as planned.

“This kid’s really important to us, as anybody that watched will see,” Shelton said. “He was really good. When you’re really good and you make a decision like that, then people are going to wonder what’s going on. He’s healthy. He’s good. But it was something we had, going in, predetermined.”