The Pittsburgh Pirates took 3 of 4 games from the Milwaukee Brewers and are off to their best start since 1992 when they won 96 games. Of course that was the Pirates last winning season.
At 24-17 at the 41 game mark, the Pirates are on pace for a 90+ win season and are tied with San Francisco for the third best record in the National League.
What stands out with the Pirates start, 23-12 since a 1-5 start, is that they’re getting contributions from just about everybody and last night’s 7-1 win was a perfect example as Francisco Liriano (2-0, 1.64 ERA) struck out 7 and allowed one run, while Travis Snider (.292 – 1 HR – 9 RBI) belted his first home run of the season, a towering shot in the river, and Starling Marte (.315 – 5 HR – 17 RBI), Garrett Jones (.284 – 5 HR – 23 RBI), Andrew McCutchen (.265 – 5 HR – 22 RBI) and Russell Martin (.274 – 6 HR – 12 RBI) all had two hits for the Pirates in the win.
This isn’t a start where Andrew McCutchen is carrying the team similar to last season. In fact, few would have predicted that the Pirates would be 24-17 after 41 games if you told them McCutchen would be batting .265, Pedro Alvarez hitting .188 and Neil Walker would miss some time due to injury and be hitting .255.