Pirates 9, Rockies 4
DENVER -- A day off revived Andrew McCutchen.
The Pittsburgh center fielder hit three home runs and drove in five runs Tuesday night, leading the Pirates to a 9-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.
It was McCutchen's second career three-homer game. The other was Aug. 1, 2009, against the Washington Nationals. He joined Hall of Famers Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and Roberto Clemente as the only Pirates to have multiple three-homer games.
McCutchen hit as many homers Tuesday as the Atlanta Braves have hit in 20 games this season. He has five home runs this year.
Mired in a 3-for-23 tailspin with 11 strikeouts, including four Sunday while playing all 13 innings in a win at Arizona that took 5 hours, 25 minutes, McCutchen was given his first day off this season in the series opener Monday.
He hit solo homers in the first and second innings Tuesday before adding a three-run shot in the sixth. The latter came off Christian Bergman and expanded the Pirates' lead to 7-3.
Two batters later, Starling Marte greeted Gonzalez Germen with a solo home run. It was the Pirates' fifth homer of the game; they hit back-to-back shots when David Freese followed McCutchen with a homer in the first.
With a chance at a record-tying fourth homer, McCutchen grounded out in the eighth inning.
Pirates starter Gerrit Cole (2-2) gave up four runs, two earned, in six innings. An error by second baseman Josh Harrison led to an unearned run in the sixth that made it 8-4. That inning ended when DJ LeMahieu was thrown out at the plate, trying to score from third after a ball got away from catcher Francisco Cervelli.
Arquimedes Caminero relieved Cole and walked the first two batters he faced. However, Caminero got Carlos Gonzalez to fly out and Nolan Arenado to ground into a double play.
Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa (1-3) gave up five hits, three of them homers, and four runs in three innings before leaving with a groin injury that occurred as he ran out a grounder in the third.
The Pirates won for the fifth time in six games. The loss was a season-high fourth in a row for the Rockies.
After the consecutive homers by McCutchen and Freese in the first, the Pirates made it a three-run inning on Josh Harrison's two-out single.
McCutchen put the Pirates ahead 4-0 in the second. It was the 10th career multi-homer game for McCutchen.
A passed ball helped the Rockies score an unearned run in the second on Brandon Barnes' ground out.
Nolan Arenado hit his eighth homer of the season in the fourth -- and the Rockies' first in four games -- to trim the Pirates' lead to 4-2.
The Rockies loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with one out in the fifth. Cole struck out Gonzalez. Arenado singled home a run but left fielder Starling Marte threw Gerardo Parra out at the plate to end the inning. The Rockies challenged the call, but it was upheld.
NOTES: The Pirates have had 10 different players hit three home runs in a game a total of 18 times in franchise history. ... Rockies SS Trevor Story was not in the lineup for the first time this season. ... Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon (turf toe, left foot) was scheduled to play seven innings for High Class A Modesto at Visalia in the first of two rehab games that could lead to him being activated at Arizona on Friday when he is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. ... Pirates RHP A.J. Schugel, who grew up in suburban Denver and pitched 2 1/3 innings Monday night to earn his first major league save, is staying with his parents during this series. He gave the ball from the final out to his father, Jeff, who was at the game. The elder Schugel was one of the Rockies' original scouts when they came into existence in 1993 and now is a special assistant with the Cincinnati Reds.