PITTSBURGH - "It's really fun to be a Pittsburgh Pirate."

When's the last time you heard somebody say that?

Rookie left fielder Jason Bay uttered such words after the Pirates' 6-5 victory Sunday at PNC Park.

Bay and his teammates do have plenty to be smiling about:

They've won 20 of their last 26 games, pulling within six games of leading the National League wild-card race after falling 16 games below .500 just four weeks ago.

They are 14-1 at home since June 26, hottest such streak in the major leagues.

They are one win shy of 16 victories in July. The Pirates haven't won 16 games in a month since September of 2000.

They attracted 100,417 fans for their just-completed weekend sweep of Cincinnati, the Bucs' largest three-game series attendance figure since June 20-22 last year vs. Cleveland.

They have won 12 straight games against NL Central Division competition.

They are hitting a National League-best .413 (33-for-80) with the bases loaded this season.

Pirate starting pitchers are 15-3 with a 2.40 earned run average in the past 29 games.

"Pitching," Pirate manager Lloyd McClendon said in explaining the team's surge. "It's that simple. When your starting pitchers keep you in games, you sometimes win games you have no business winning.

"Our starting pitching has been dominating and it's been nice to see. That's what we thought we had coming out of spring training."

The numbers back McClendon up. The Pirates are 37-22 when their starting pitcher lasts at least six innings, 10-27 when they don't.

The Pirates' recent success goes beyond the starting rotation, however. Salomon Torres is 6-4 with a 2.89 ERA as the club's eighth-inning set-up man. Jose Mesa has a 2.34 ERA and 29 saves in 30 chances as the closer.

Mesa broke Mike Williams' club record by recording his 11th consecutive save Sunday.

Center fielder Tike Redman is hitting .350 with 18 RBI in his last 23 games, hitting safely in 20 of them. Most of those numbers have come from the No. 6 spot in the batting order.

"Tike is a good fastball hitter and he sees a lot of them with runners in scoring position," McClendon said. "He may not be the ideal No. 6 hitter, but with our lineup the way it is, he's gonna stay there for a while."

Redman has no problem with that.

"I'm seeing the ball well right now and I don't think it matters what spot in the lineup I'm hitting," Redman said. "I am seeing a few more fastballs, though, and it feels good to drive in runs."

The Pirates are in a feel-good mood in general.

Their No.'s 1-3 hitters Sunday - Jason Kendall, Jack Wilson and Jason Bay - were batting .315, .325 and .311, respectively.

Kendall has reached base in 25 consecutive games. Bobby Hill is 12-for-34 as a pinch-hitter this season - leading all of baseball in that category - and has two pinch-hit home runs this season.

"We're going to be involved in a lot of close games, just by the nature of our team," Hill said. "We need to produce off the bench."

We're getting comfortable with each other," Bay said. "We only have a few older guys and all of the younger guys have been around for a while now. We're becoming a family."

McClendon said his team is no longer settling for a couple of wins here and there.

"In this game, you have to be greedy," he said. "You have to be hungry. You can't allow yourself to give anything away.

"These guys have come to really hate losing … and it's nice to see."

"We believe in ourselves," Redman said. "When we lost Raul Mondesi, it was like, what's going to happen now? Once we realized the talent we still had, all we had to do was get it together.

"We're trying to play .500 ball or better. Maybe we can get to the playoffs. Keep rising up that ladder and see what happens."