PITTSBURGH -- This blast didn't make David Freese a World Series hero, as he once was with St. Louis. Still, the towering homer he hit Wednesday to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks helped prove his worth in a far different role.

"I just stayed back and put a good swing on it. It was nice. It was nice," Freese said of a 451-foot homer to center field in the fifth that gave the Pirates a 5-4 lead that ended up being the final score.

It was one of 11 hits Pittsburgh pounded out as they erased a three-run deficit to move to seven games over .500, at 26-19, for the first time this season.

Freese was brought in primarily as a stand-in while Jung Ho Kang recovered from reconstructive knee surgery last year and to maybe help out at first base. Kang now is playing more than not, although he was not in the starting lineup Wednesday.

"Everything he's done has been impressive since he showed up here," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said of Freese. "He knew the routine. Knew what the gig was going to be. There weren't any complications or changes to it. We revisited it right before we felt Kang was heading our direction. There's going to be ample opportunity for him to play, whether it be at third or at first. We'll see what situations might be created."

On this night, Freese's two-run homer further impressed Hurdle.

"He's a strong man," Hurdle said. "He's really strong from the elbows to the hands to the fingertips. He's got a good base that he hits from.

"That ball was clobbered."

Pirates starter Jeff Locke evened his record at 3-3 while allowing four runs on seven hits through 7 1/3 innings.

Sean Rodriguez also homered and Gregory Polanco was 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Pirates, who won for the fifth time in their past six games.

Those homers came off of Diamondbacks starter Rubby De La Rosa (4-5), who had been stingy in going 3-1 in his past four starts but had skipped his last scheduled start because of groin soreness. He gave up five runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.

De La Rosa said Freese jumped on a slider down the middle.

"I felt good today, but I made a big mistake and I paid the price," he said. "It cost me the game. But other than that, everything was good."

Yasmany Tomas' two-run homer in the second helped stake Arizona to an early 3-0 lead before Pittsburgh's offense came alive. Rickie Weeks Jr. hit a solo homer for the Diamondbacks in the fifth.

Locke was hard on himself, particularly for the Weeks homer.

"It went better because we scored some runs," Locke said. "In my eyes, it's not a very good performance by me. Mistakes were made, mistakes that we're not supposed to make in those situations, but the offense hung tight all night. We battled back."

Arizona took a 3-0 lead in the second. With two outs, Jake Lamb walked and scored on Chris Owings' double down the left field line. Tomas followed with his sixth home run inside the foul pole.

Rodriguez hit his fifth homer in the fourth to make it 3-1, but Nick Ahmed replied with his second homer off the left field foul pole in the fifth, increasing the Diamondbacks' lead to 4-1.

Polanco, with a double, and Starling Marte, with a groundout, each drove in a run in the Pirates' fifth to cut it to 4-3. Freese followed with his third home run, a two-run, 451-foot shot into the Pittsburgh bullpen, to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead and chase De La Rosa.

"He was commanding the fastball pretty good and the slider was OK today; he was a little inconsistent," Arizona manager Chip Hale said of his starter. "He threw a couple good ones, and a couple hanging. So just some inconsistencies with the slider today."

There might have been worries about hit batsmen after two Diamondbacks were knocked out of Tuesday's games after taking pitches to the head area, but instead there was a delay after the first inning as plate umpire Chris Guccione sought medical assistance.

Guccione got hit in the mask with a foul tip from Freese in that inning. He was attended to Pittsburgh trainer Todd Tomczyk but continued until the end of the inning. Sean Barber, who began the game working at first base, moved behind the plate.

NOTES: SS Nick Ahmed, one of two Diamondbacks knocked out of the game on Tuesday after being hit in the head area with a pitch, was in the starting lineup. The other, 2B Jean Segura, was available off the bench. ... Arizona's Rickie Weeks Jr. started in right field for the first time in his career. ... Pirates 2B Josh Harrison was a late scratch from the lineup because of illness. ... Pittsburgh placed RHP Arquimedes Caminero, who was ejected after hitting Ahmed and Segura, on the 15-day disabled list with a left quadriceps injury and placed LHP Tony Watson on the paternity list. The Pirates recalled RHP Rob Scahill and LHP Kyle Lobstein from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... As of Wednesday afternoon, Pirates RHP Ryan Vogelsong remained in Allegheny General Hospital, although Hurdle said he might be released soon. Vogelsong sustained facial fractures Monday when he was hit by a pitch near his left eye.