DENVER — Jamey Carroll lay on the outfield grass relieved and exhausted, the final out peeking from the top of his glove like a snow cone on a hot summer's night.

Carroll's backpedaling, game-saving grab of Humberto Cota's popup with the tying run racing to the plate capped Colorado's 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates that snapped a six-game losing streak.

Carroll also tied a career-high with four hits, homered for just the second time in 707 at-bats and made an incredible grab of a popup by Jose Bautista that first baseman Todd Helton swatted to him on a dead run in the sixth inning.

"He was in the right place at the right time the whole game," Cota said.

The 5-foot-9 Carroll said he was "just tall enough" and his mitt "just long enough" for his great catch in the ninth.

"We got way too much Jamey Carroll tonight," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "He played a terrific ballgame offensively and defensively."

The Pirates were excited as they watched Cota's ball heading over the head of Carroll, who froze at the crack of the bat and couldn't really jump anyway because of a bum right ankle.

So, he backpedaled, almost tripping over himself as he stabbed his left arm into the air and robbed Cota of a game-tying hit.

"The way Jamey started back and the way the ball was hit I thought it was going to be just out of his reach," Tracy said. "He didn't have an opportunity to turn and I thought Cota had hit the ball well enough to get it over his head."

He stayed on the grass for several seconds while his teammates swarmed him with congratulations.

"I just laid there for a second like, 'Wow! What a way to end the game,"' Carroll said. "It was kind of a crazy ending. Another half inch the other way, we'd still be out there."

Jeff Francis (4-5) allowed just three hits in six innings. Pittsburgh's Jason Bay hit a solo drive for his 18th homer and Jose Hernandez added a two-run shot for his second, both in the fifth inning.

The Rockies led off with hits in all six innings they faced left-hander Paul Maholm, but only one of those batters came around to score.

Maholm (2-5) was charged with four earned runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings.