Pirates make history with season-best offensive output

The Pirates have scored 37 runs during their four-game winning streak.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense has awoken from its season-long slumber.

The same team that tied an MLB record with 26 games in a row scoring four runs or fewer has broken out the bats better than most to close June.

The Pirates swept the struggling New York Mets over the weekend. It wasn’t close. The mighty Mets, with the highest payroll in baseball, were no match for Don Kelly’s Pirates.

The Bucs didn’t just sweep New York. They embarrassed them. The Mets held a players-only meeting on Saturday. The Pirates immediately scored four runs off them in the bottom of the first on Sunday.

They outscored the Mets 30-4 in the series. How much did the tables turn? Mitch Keller (5.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) earned his first win since March 28. March 28! For a pitcher with an ERA at 3.90 and tied for ninth in quality starts (11).

Pittsburgh continued its momentum Monday with a 7-0 throttling of the St. Louis Cardinals. Never a bad feeling to beat St. Louis, especially when you play your brand of baseball. They’ve scored 37 runs in four games.

The Pirates need to win games by pitching well and playing good defense. Andrew Heaney took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and the bullpen followed with Chase Shugart allowing one base runner in 2.1 innings.

Following the win, the Pirates became the third team in MLB history to win four consecutive games by seven runs or more, while only allowing two or fewer runs. The others? The 1911 Pirates and 1882 White Stockings.

They’re the first team to accomplish it since themselves, 114 years ago.

The Pirates are 17-9 at PNC Park under Kelly and .500 (24-24) overall. They’ve won six of eight and totaled a winning record, 14-13, in June.

Kelly’s first full month has been an improvement over Shelton and his 12-26 record, being let go after six seasons of poor to mediocre results and no winning records.

I want to see a larger sample size before I’m ready to anoint Kelly the manager moving forward, but he is on the right track to staying. The real question is, will the current general manager be the one making the decision?

Another oddity during the winning streak? Paul Skenes hasn’t pitched. They accomplished this and earned wins for Keller, Heaney, Bailey Falter, and Carmen Mlodzinski (after Mike Burrows). The Pirates host the Cardinals for game two at PNC Park at 6:40 p.m. Can Skenes finally receive run support? It would only be fitting for the best pitcher in baseball. It’s beyond due.