PITTSBURGH — David Freese stressed the need of a culture change inside the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse during spring training, one that focused more on creating a greater sense of urgency and accountability when things go awry.

Given a rare start with his club facing the prospect of getting swept by Colorado, Freese backed up his words with his bat. The veteran third baseman worked a two-out walk in the fourth to start a rally and added a two-run double as the Pirates had little trouble with the Rockies in a 10-2 win on Wednesday.

Pirates manager gave regulars Corey Dickerson, Gregory Polanco and Colin Moran the day off. Their replacements — Freese, left fielder Sean Rodriguez and second baseman Max Moroff — drove in five of Pittsburgh’s 10 runs as the Pirates improved to 8-0 in day games.

“You have your everyday guys getting a little breather, you want to take pride in stepping up and make it seem like a seamless transition when your everyday guys get a break,” Freese said. “Me, Sean and Max got in there and today was a day we kind of showed up and kept it going.”

Josh Bell drove in three runs and Adam Frazier had three of Pittsburgh’s 13 hits as the NL Central leaders broke out after being limited to just two runs in their previous two games against the Rockies.

“It breeds confidence on the bench,” Bell said. “It breeds confidence with guys coming in in different situations.”

Chad Kuhl (2-1) surrendered Chris Iannetta’s solo home run in the third but otherwise kept Colorado’s struggling offense in check. He labored at times through the first five innings but finished with a flourish, retiring the Rockies in order in the sixth to cap his longest start of the season.

“I looked up and saw I had 87 pitches (after five),” Kuhl said. “All I focused on was make these (final pitches) count.”

Kyle Freeland (0-3) cruised through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. Freese worked a two-out walk off and Rodriguez followed with a shot that just cleared the wall in left field for his second home run this season. Max Moroff added an RBI double two batters later to put the Pirates up 3-1.