DENVER — The Pirates chose sleep over a potential chance to celebrate another trip to the postseason.

The party would have been put on hold anyway.

Starling Marte drove in two runs and Pittsburgh closed in on its third straight playoff berth by beating the Colorado Rockies 6-3 Tuesday night.

The Pirates reduced their magic number to one for securing at least an NL wild card, but didn’t wait around at Coors Field to watch San Francisco’s game at San Diego. A loss by the Giants would have put Pittsburgh in the postseason.

Instead of rooting on the Padres, players showered and dressed in a subdued Pirates clubhouse while the Giants built a late lead during their 4-2 victory.

“When it’s official, it’s official,” Andrew McCutchen said long before San Francisco’s game ended. “If they happen to lose and we clinch tonight we can celebrate tomorrow. I’d rather go to bed.”

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle met with some of the players after the game and it was decided the team wouldn’t wait around to find out its fate.

“I brought the leadership council in here and they’re ready to go home,” Hurdle said. “We’ll figure it out from there. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, we’ll show up and win a game tomorrow.”

All the Pirates need to wrap up a playoff appearance is a victory Wednesday against Colorado.

Pittsburgh also kept pace with NL Central leader St. Louis. The Cardinals beat Cincinnati to maintain a four-game lead over the second-place Pirates, but Hurdle said his team isn’t looking too far ahead.

“Our guys have great presence. We’re in the moment,” he said. “We’re not looking at yesterday, we’re not looking at the team behind us. We’re not looking at tomorrow or the team in front of us. We need to take care of our game.”

Pittsburgh scored in each of the first four innings against Chris Rusin to build a 6-3 lead.

Wilin Rosario’s solo homer in the third for Colorado cut it to 3-1, and RBI singles by Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado made it 4-3 in the third.

Marte, who had an RBI double in the first, followed Aramis Ramirez’s run-scoring triple in the fourth with a single off the bag at third to restore Pittsburgh’s three-run lead.

The Rockies had a chance to cut into the lead when they had runners on first and third in the fourth, but J.A. Happ fanned Brandon Barnes and pinch-hitter Kyle Parker.

Happ (6-2) left after walking Rosario in the sixth. The left-hander allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out eight.

“He managed the game very, very well,” Hurdle said. “He didn’t let the game get away from him and he walks out of there with one walk and eight strikeouts.”

Happ, who came to the Pirates on July 31, agreed with the decision to put off celebrating as a team.