PITTSBURGH — Pirates manager Clint Hurdle likes to refer to his players as “being in a good place.”

Veteran right-hander A.J. Burnett would like to upgrade that.

“I feel like I’m in a great place,” the 35-year-old said. “There’s a bunch of great guys on this team. I love this clubhouse.”

And the Pirates love what Burnett has brought to it.

“A.J. has a world of confidence on the mound and a lot of experience to draw from,” Hurdle said. “In terms of comfort zone and composure, he’s in a very good place.

“This was a pretty good pitching staff to begin with and he’s added to it. The other guys in the clubhouse are feeding off his energy and his leadership. And being on a younger team has helped rekindle him a little bit.”

Burnett walked 83 in 190 1-3 innings with the Yankees last year. He’s walked only 20 in 62 1-3 innings for the Pirates, while striking out 56.

Take away his nightmarish start May 2 in St. Louis — when he allowed 12 runs in 2 2-3 innings pitched — and Burnett is 6-1 with a 1.89 earned run average in nine starts this season.

“It’s consistency of command,” Hurdle said. “His walks are down, his strikeouts are up and he’s been efficient with his pitches.”

Burnett pitched into the eighth inning Sunday for the third time this season. He has thrown at least seven innings in half of his starts this year.

“You want to go deep into every game you start,” Burnett said. “The pitch count tends to work in your favor when you get the lead early, but that part of the game isn’t in your control.

“You pitch more aggressively when you’ve got the lead, but the idea is to keep throwing zeroes no matter what the scoreboard says.”

Burnett is also influenced by the success of his fellow starters.

“When there’s been a string of good outings, you want to keep that going,” he said.

Catcher Rod Barajas — who was Burnett’s backstop during his career-best 18-win season with Toronto in 2008 — is a big fan of the right-hander.

“He gives you a great chance to win every time he takes the mound,” Barajas said. “Show me a pitcher with better numbers. ... That man loves to go out there and compete.”

The Pirates have lost only one game all season (22-1) when leading after six innings. Observers tend to throw Burnett a lot of credit for the performance of the pitching staff as a whole.

Burnett wants to toss that credit in another direction.

“(Pitching coach) Ray (Searage) has been pretty good with us,” he said.

Burnett said the team’s performance on the field is affected positively by a lighter approach off of it.

Before meeting with the media after Sunday’s game, Burnett excused himself and Barajas jokingly told the media “he had to fix his hair before he could be interviewed.”

When Burnett returned, he told a smiling Barajas to “grow up.”

All in good fun.

“It’s a blast in here,” Burnett said. “When it’s game time, it’s game time. You go out and take care of business.

“But you’ve got to be able to relax and release everything else in here. Everybody in here gets that.”

Notes: The Pirates entered the Baltimore series with 12 wins since May 25, tied with the Yankees and Angels for the most in baseball. ... The Bucs’ bullpen ERA of 2.39 this season is bettered by only one team: Baltimore at 2.37. ... Andrew McCutchen leads MLB with a .463 batting average against left-handers in 2012. His 11 home runs since May 8 are topped only by Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton and Alfonso Soriano with 12 each. ... The Pirates have a team ERA of 3.25, third to Washington’s 2.98 and the L.A. Dodgers’ 3.19 in the major leagues.