Jimenez continued his emergence into a dominant starting pitcher in the Rockies' 5-2 victory against the Florida Marlins at Dolphins Stadium on Friday night, pitching seven shutout innings, striking out 10 and giving up two singles.

"He is as dominating as any pitcher we have faced this season," said Marlins manager Freddi Gonzalez.

Jimenez has won four consecutive starts and seven of his last nine after seeing the Rockies win only one of his first 14 starts this season.

"The surprise to me was that he didn't come out of the chutes better," said manager Clint Hurdle. "We knew how much talent he had."

Jimenez has given up just one run -- a Matt Kemp home run in a 10-1 win against the Dodgers at Coors Field on July 26 -- his last 26 innings. His ERA has dropped from 5.42 to 3.61 since June 6, Jimenez having allowed more than three earned runs just once in 11 starts, and having allowed one or no runs in seven of them.

"He's not afraid to do things that are creative because they are things he knows he can do," said Hurdle. "He is throwing a 98 mile-per-hour fastball. He falls behind 2-0 and is throwing sliders to left-handers. That's too many things to think about." And if that's not enough, Jimenez will come up with something new every now and then, like he did in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two out, All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, a teammate of Jimenez on the Licey team in the Dominican Republic during the winter, was the hitter, and the count was 2-2 in what Hurdle called "the biggest at-bat, and he throws that Juan Marichal slider, where he drops down three-quarters. He does it about once a game, and the hitter has no chance. That's why (Jimenez is) elite."

Ramirez swung and missed -- by a lot.

No big deal, said Jimenez.

"I know I have (that) pitch when I need it," said Jimenez, who struck out 10, one shy of his career-best, and allowed only two singles in seven innings.

ROCKIES 5, MARLINS 2: Ubaldo Jimenez won his fourth consecutive start, pitching seven shutout innings Friday. The Rockies were only 3-for-17 with runners in scoring positions but the hits were big. Brad Hawpe had a two-run single in the third. Chris Iannetta singled home two runs in the fifth, and Omar Quintanilla singled home another. The Rockies are 5-3 on the road trip that includes games Saturday night and Sunday at Florida. They were 2-10 on the two trips prior to the All-Star break.