Correia wins 11th for Pirates

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t need their All-Star on Sunday. The closer is superfluous when it’s an eight-run game.

Instead, a pair of maybe-could-have-beens again made the case that, perhaps, these Pirates are deserving of more attention than the black-and-gold teams of recent past.

Kevin Correia won his 11th game, and Andrew McCutchen had three hits to cap a prolific series as Pittsburgh cruised to a 10-2 win over the Washington Nationals.

Pittsburgh will wake up on the Fourth of July with a winning record for the first time since 1999. Correia’s nine road victories are tops in baseball. McCutchen had nine hits, including six for extra bases, in the four-game series to raise his average to .294. If they were anyone but the Pirates, perhaps there would be three All-Stars instead of just reliever Joel Hanrahan, who earned the team’s lone nod when the selections were announced earlier in the day.

“It’s up to us to change that,” McCutchen said. “The majority of people look at us as just being ‘the Pirates,’ and they’re going to say it’s ‘the Pirates’ until we show a difference. That’s just fuel for the fire for us as a team to continue surprising teams every time we show up. Win a series here, win a series there. Sweep a team here, sweep a team there. Next thing you know they’re going, ‘Hey, these Pirates are the real deal.”’

Correia (11-6) allowed two runs and six hits over six innings to become the first Pirates pitcher to win 11 games before the All-Star break since Jim Bibby in 1980. He’s tied for the majors lead in wins with Jair Jurrjens, Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander.

Correia said he was more focused on his start than the All-Star selection show, but he likes that the club was at least in the mix for more than one spot.

“We had a few guys that deserved a look, and that’s good,” Correia said. “I don’t think this team’s had that in the past. It’s been ‘a guy’s got to make it, so a guy goes.”’

Pittsburgh’s 10 runs matched a season-high as the club moved two games over .500 for the ninth time this season, where they keep hitting a barrier that so far has stopped them cold. They are 0-8 when trying to get to three games over.

The Pirates were due for a laugher after playing mostly tight ones for much of the season. They scored three in the first, five in the second. McCutchen had three hits and would have had four were it not for Roger Bernadina’s diving catch on the warning track in the left field corner.

“It’s nice for the bats to show up and have a feel-good day on offense,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “But I think we’re built more for the other. I don’t know how many more of these we’ll get, but when we get ’em we’ll take ’em.”