Barnes: Pirates’ offense makes the difference in June

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been winning a lot recently, but not in the way that many of the… The Pittsburgh Pirates have been winning a lot recently, but not in the way that many of the team’s fans would expect.

This past Saturday, the Pirates’ record was 42-35, fresh off a 7-3 victory over the defending World Series-champion St. Louis Cardinals.

That win, Pittsburgh’s 17th in the month of June, ensured the Pirates their ninth series win out of the past 11 played, with the two non-winning series being a four-game split with the Philadelphia Phillies and a three-game sweep against arguably the best offensive team in baseball, the Baltimore Orioles.

Winning series at this rate is pennant-style baseball. And speaking of pennants and playoffs, the Pirates of 2012 also have something in common with the franchise’s last playoff team, which was also the last Pirates team to finish above .500 in a season.

After Saturday’s win in St. Louis, the Pirates were seven games over the infamous .500 mark for the first time since the 1992 season, the last time the franchise finished with a winning record. The Pirates finished 96-66 that year.

But surprisingly, the key to the Pirates’ 17-10 June record was not the credit-worthy pitching staff led by James McDonald and A.J. Burnett, who recently were both inexplicably snubbed from next week’s All-Star Game. Instead, the offense keyed by the hot bats of Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Garrett Jones, Casey McGehee and Pedro Alvarez exploded this past month to lead the Buccos to the best record in the National League.

This team’s offensive achievements in June were even more remarkable considering how atrocious the Pirates’ bats were during the months of April and May.

For the first two months of the season, the Pirates posted a dismal team batting average of .219 and scored a league-worst 147 runs. But thanks to one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, the Pirates finished the first two months of the season at 25-25 and in third place, three games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central Division.

But as the weather warmed up in June, so did the Pirates’ hitters.

The Buccos nearly outscored their combined run total from April and May by scoring a major-league-high total of 146 in June, with an 11-7 victory over Philadelphia on June 27 and a 14-5 win against the Cardinals on June 29 displaying the Pirates’ new-found ability to win high-scoring games.

And more importantly, the Pirates didn’t waste strong offensive performances like they have in past seasons.

Manager Clint Hurdle’s sluggers scored seven or more runs nine times in June. The Pirates’ record in those games was 9-0.

The drastic offensive improvements stem from a power surge emanating throughout the month of June, as the Pirates also clubbed 39 home runs to tie the team record for home runs hit in a month, set by the 1975 Pirates.

Hitting so many balls over the fence was a total team effort as a number of Pirates produced excellent — and unexpected — power figures.

McCutchen and Alvarez each hit seven. Jones and McGehee hit five. And even the diminutive Alex Presley hit four after his return from a stint in the minor leagues.

The Pirates’ impressive home run total not only tied a club record, but it also was the most hit by any National League team last month and was surpassed only by the American League’s New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, who also are the top two home-run-hitting teams this season.

As for all-around hitting in June, the Pirates did well in that category, too. The club combined to hit for a much-improved .268 batting average, third-best in the National League for last month.

McCutchen, who was named to his second All-Star Game as a reserve on Sunday, led the way by hitting a torrid .370, but he wasn’t alone. Jones hit .300, Walker was at .292 and McGehee finally snapped out of his slump to hit for a .291 average.

Now just one game behind the Cincinnati Reds and in sole possession of second place in the Central Division, the Pirates have the potential to be legitimate contenders for the first time in 20 years if this team can continue to hit the way it did in June.

The Pirates have shown they are determined, and recent performances against division rivals like the Reds and Cardinals have proven that this team is capable of staying in this playoff race.

Last season, many fans feared that the Pirates would eventually fall off, and the team finally did in August.

This season, I don’t have that feeling.

This is the year to believe.

After 20 years, it might be hard to take this notion seriously, but the Pittsburgh Pirates will be playing important baseball well into the fall.