As Clint Hurdle sat at a table inside PNC Park's press conference room, he prefaced each mention of results with the caveat that it's still just one week into a 162-game season. He made it clear he had no desire to overanalyze or overthink what he had seen over the previous seven days.
The rest of the baseball world, though, will be busy analyzing the Pirates. After all, their 14-3 rout of the Reds in front of an announced crowd of 11,115 on Friday night gave them a 6-1 record, tied for best in Major League Baseball, as well as the franchise's first 6-1 start since 1976 and the first time scoring 14-plus runs against Cincinnati since May 27, 2007.
They've defied external expectations thus far, albeit for only a week, and their motivation to continue the one-week hot streak is simple.
"I think we’re just trying to come together for us," Josh Bell said. "It’s not to prove anybody wrong or right. We want to do it for the guy next to us in the clubhouse. Do it for the guy next to us in the dugout. I feel like more times than not, that works out."
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