KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- "There are wins that can whitewash a lot," Clint Hurdle was telling me in his Kauffman Stadium office late Monday night, well after his Pirates had pounded the defending American League champion Royals, 10-7.
That's, like, acid-level whitewashing.
Because there also was this. And this. And this.
And if left undisturbed beneath the hugs and handshakes and blaring raps -- Kurtis Blow was pushing the visiting clubhouse close to the edge on this night -- those 17 hits and Travis Ishikawa's two-run oppo blast and Starling Marte's matching three hits would bury more baserunning blunders, botched rundowns, bad body language between the corner outfielders and all the other nonsense that, from this perspective, is the No. 1 thing keeping these otherwise remarkable Pirates from being all they can be.
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