DENVER - When pressed, Lloyd McClendon had a hard time pinpointing a down period in Jose Castillo's rookie season.

"I remember only one time when Jose's struggled this year," the Pittsburgh Pirates manager said about Castillo. "It was back in July and he's been as solid as anyone here ever since."

Castillo had a two-run triple among his three hits, and Jason Bay had three hits and scored three times to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Colorado Rockies 11-3 Thursday.

"I was having trouble just before the All-Star break and the coaches took me aside and didn't find much to correct," said Castillo, who was 3-for-22 in the six games before the All-Star Break. "All they asked me for was to concentrate more and depend on the experience I gained with each game."

He has hit .266 since. Castillo, who had a career-high four hits Tuesday, drove in three runs and has eight RBIs in his last six games. Bay went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases.

"The guy has given us everything and more," McClendon said. "He makes the plays in the field and runs the bases hard, too."

Ryan Doumit added three hits for the Pirates who have won 13 of the last 18 meetings with Colorado.

Josh Fogg (6-7) benefited from the Pirates offensive outburst - 17 hits - to win for only the second time in 13 starts. Fogg, 2-4 over that span, allowed three runs and six hits. He also drove in a run.

"I'm more comfortable pitching with the lead," Fogg said. "I was able to relax and just pitch."

The only real problem he had was when he threw a belt-high fastball to Todd Helton. Helton hit it out for his 12th home run for Colorado.

The Pirates roughed up Jeff Francis (11-8) from the outset, with six runs and six hits including triples by Castillo and Michael Restovich.

Bay and Brad Eldred began the scoring with RBI singles and Castillo drove a 3-2 pitch into the gap in left-center for two runs. Restovich tripled over Larry Bigbie's head in right to score Castillo. Restovich came home on a ground out.

Francis had won his last three starts and was 8-2 this year at Coors Field. He lasted 3 1-3 innings, giving up nine runs and 13 hits in his shortest outing.

"Jeff was rushing his delivery and throwing the ball up in the strike zone," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "When he does that he's not going to get anybody out."

The Pirates made it 8-0 with two runs in the third. Fogg drove in a run when Helton booted his groundball with the bases loaded in the third and Freddy Sanchez added a sacrifice fly.

Pittsburgh chased Francis with one out in the fourth. Bay drew a leadoff walk and scored on Castillo's single to left.

The Rockies got a run in their half of the fourth on Bigbie's leadoff triple to center and a one-out single by J.D. Closser. Helton homered over the scoreboard in right field with Cory Sullivan aboard in the fifth inning to make it 9-3.

Doumit had an RBI single in the sixth off Sunny Kim. Eldred hit a solo home run in the eighth inning off Marcos Carvajal.

"This is the kind of game I needed," Doumit said. "With a big lead I saw more pitches and I hit them."

Notes:

The Pirates had been 0-8-2 in their previous 10 road series. ... Kip Wells will make his scheduled start Saturday in Houston. ... Pittsburgh placed outfielder Jody Gerut on the DL before the game. ... Bay has reached base in 26-straight games and is 13-for-13 on stolen base attempts. ... Pittsburgh won the season series (7-3). ... Francis has given up 15 runs over his last two starts.