Pirates 6, Rockies 3
DENVER -- The Pittsburgh Pirates methodically scored in succession in the early innings Tuesday night, beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3 and then waited to see whether they would be celebrating.
The Pirates win coupled with the Washington Nationals' loss at Baltimore meant the Pirates would clinch a playoff spot if the San Francisco Giants lost their game at San Diego.
The Pirates were opportunistic as they scored in each of the first four innings, totaling their six runs in that span, all with two outs against Colorado starter Chris Rusin (5-9).
J.A. Happ (6-2), who the Pirates acquired from the Mariners for a minor league pitcher at the trade deadline, continued to pay big dividends. Happ (6-2) worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Jared Hughes relieved him with a runner on first and got D.J. LeMahieu to ground into an inning-ending double play.
In nine starts with the Pirates, Happ has a 2.28 ERA (51 1/3 innings, 13 earned runs). He has been better than that lately, going 6-1 with a 1.73 ERA (41 2/3 innings, 8 earned runs) in his past seven games.
The win was the 91st of the season for the Pirates, their fourth straight and put them a season-high tying 31 games above .500. The Rockies fell to 2-3 on their final 10-game homestand and 1-4 against the Pirates this season.
Mark Melancon worked the ninth and earned his 49th save, extending his franchise record. He is trying to become the seventh National League reliever to save 50 or more games in a season and the first since Craig Kimbrel (50) with the Braves in 2013.
The Pirates kept pecking away at Rusin, who allowed eight hits and four walks and needed 92 pitches to get through the fourth.
Third baseman Aramis Ramirez and left fielder Starling Marte drove in runs in the fourth with vastly different hits. Ramirez tripled off the wall in center for the 2,300th hit of his career. Marte followed with a slow grounder that third baseman Nolan Arenado, with no play on the speedy Marte roll, and the ball trickled into the third base bag.
Singles by Charlie Blackmon and Arenado in the third narrowed the Pirates' lead to 4-3. Blackmon's hit scored left fielder Brandon Barnes, who led off with a single and stole second. After Blackmon stole his 41st base, he scored when Arenado broke a stretch of 12 hitless at-bats that included eight strikeouts and drove in his 115th run.
The Pirates got run-scoring doubles from Marte in the first and second baseman Josh Harrison in the second. Polanco followed Harrison with a run-scoring single. Catcher Francisco Cervelli singled in the third, moved to second on Rusin's balk and scored on first baseman Michael Morse's broken-bat single to short center.
Happ yielded a homer in the second to first baseman Wilin Rosario, his sixth of the season.
NOTES: Pirates 3B Aramis Ramirez left the game in the sixth due to tightness in his left groin. ... Rockies RHP David Hale will start Friday against the Dodgers. He takes the rotation spot of LHP Yohan Flande, who was hit on the side of the left knee with a line drive in his Saturday start and sustained a patellar tendon contusion. ... Rockies RHP Christian Bergman will start in place of LHP Jorge De La Rosa on Wednesday. De La Rosa is dealing with right Achilles tendinitis that intensified to the point where he can't start. ... Pirates OF Keon Broxton had the third base bag in his locker, a memento of his first game in the majors Monday night. He entered the game as a pinch runner in the ninth, stole third and continued home on a throwing error. ... Pirates RHP Charlie Morton, who will start Wednesday, is 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA in 10 road starts this season but has a 2.55 ERA in his past four starts away from Pittsburgh.