DENVER -- A day off not only revived Andrew McCutchen, it catapulted him into the Pittsburgh Pirates' slugging history.

McCutchen 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 and Ralph Kiner (four times apiece) and Roberto Clemente (twice) as the only Pirates to have multiple three-homer games.

"It's awesome to hit one homer, but to hit three, it's really cool," McCutchen said. "And just to be in those caliber of players is tremendous. It's a good day to remember."

McCutchen hit as many homers Tuesday as the Atlanta Braves have hit in 20 games this season. He has five home runs this year.

The Pirates, who have won seven straight games at Coors Field dating to last season, won for the fifth time in six games. The Rockies lost a season-high fourth consecutive game to fall to 1-4 on their homestand.

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.

"It is good just to know you're showing up at the ballpark and the responsibility isn't to start the game that day," McCutchen said. "It was good to have that day to sit back, relax, just clear my mind."

McCutchen's homers went to three different fields. He hit a solo homer to left in the first, a solo shot to center in the second and a three-run blast to right in the sixth.

His final homer came off Christian Bergman and expanded the Pirates' lead from 4-3 to 7-3. Two batters later, Starling Marte hit a solo shot off Gonzalez Germen for an insurance run.

In the fifth, with Pittsburgh ahead 4-2, the Rockies loaded the bases with one out against Gerrit Cole (2-2). The right-hander struck out Carlos Gonzalez on a 96 mph fastball. Nolan Arenado followed with a run-scoring single, but left fielder Marte threw out Gerardo Parra at the plate to end the inning. The Rockies challenged the call, but it was confirmed.

"No bigger play tonight than Marte throwing out the guy at home plate," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "You look at the momentum switch. It's a 4-3 ballgame. It would be 4-4. We score four the next inning and create separation."

Cole worked six innings and gave up four runs, two earned. He threw 103 pitches, 73 of them fastballs and most precisely located. That was by design, particularly after McCutchen and David Freese hit back-to-back homers in the first and McCutchen connected in the second off Jorge De La Rosa (1-3) to give the Pirates an early 4-0 lead.

"The game plan was to use a lot of fastballs," Cole said. "Especially with a lead, you don't want to be messing around with breaking balls at this place, especially when everybody's late on (the) fastball."

The Pirates hit five homers. It was the most homers by the Pirates since they belted six on April 14, 2014, at Cincinnati.

De La Rosa, who departed the clubhouse before reporters entered, left the game after the third with a left groin strain that he sustained running to first in that inning. He struck out five but allowed four runs and three homers, and his ERA climbed to 10.18 in five starts.

This was the second time this season De La Rosa has yielded three homers in a game at Coors Field, something he had never done before this year.

"What difference I've seen is the fastball is not coming out the way it was," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "The changeup is still a real good pitch. That's why he got some strikeouts. We'll see how he shows up tomorrow."

McCutchen's multi-homer game was the 10th of his career. He entered the game with two homers in his first 89 plate appearances this season and three homers in 112 career plate appearances at Coors Field.

With a chance at a record-tying fourth homer, McCutchen grounded out in the eighth inning, but he said he wasn't trying to again go deep.

He has finished in the top five in the National League Most Valuable Player voting each of the past four seasons and won the award in 2013. So the .213 (16-for-75) average McCutchen brought into the game wasn't weighing on him.

"It's about the process," McCutchen said. "And in that process, I had progress. It's not like I felt myself getting worse. I felt myself getting better and better and better and knew it was just a matter of time. It's April. It's not even May yet."

NOTES: Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen is the 10th opposing player to hit three homers in a game at Coors Field, a feat accomplished 11 times. The last opposing player to do it was New York Mets OF Yoenis Cespedes on Aug. 21, 2015. ... 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) played six innings and went 0-for-4 for high Class A Modesto at Visalia in the first of two rehab games. If all goes well, he could be activated at Arizona on Friday when he is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list.