He had the Astros shutout for five innings, got out of a potential downfall in the sixth by allowing just one run when he struck out Hunter Pence, looking, to end the inning with runners on first and third. He then came out after the first two batters reached in the seventh.

For that he thanked catcher Chris Iannetta, who "yelled" at Jimenez after his start in San Diego.

"I said what needed to be said," said Iannetta. "And if (it) helped him, that is good."

Jimenez got back to the basics against the Astros, raising his record to 10-12, and combining with Aaron Cook (16-9) to give the Rockies two pitchers with double-digit victory totals for the third year in a row. Jeff Francis and Josh Fogg did it each of the last two years.

"I hope I do it every year, but this is nice because I don't know when I will do it again," said Jimenez.

There isn't much doubt that Jimenez can do it quite a few more years, particularly if he stays with the approach he had on Friday night where he established his fastball to the extent that he threw all fastballs with his first 16 pitches.

"After that he mixed in his other pitches, but that's the key to pitching, establishing the fastball," said Hurdle.

The approach served Jimenez well. Only three of the 18 outs he registered were fly balls to the outfield. He struck out six, including back-to-back strikeouts of Humberto Quintero, swinging, and pitcher Brian Moehler, looking, to end the fifth with runners on first, and third. And in the sixth, with men on first and third, Hunter Pence, who had doubled in the fifth for his 14th hit in a seven-game hitting streak, struck out looking to end the inning.

"Those were two big steps," he said of the strikeouts to end the fifth and sixth.

They were real big steps after that fiasco in San Diego in which he threw 30 pitches in that fourth-inning meltdown, only 10 for strikes, and gave way after back-to-back four-pitch walks.

"Anything was better than that and this was much better," said Jimenez. "Last game I threw a lot of breaking balls. This time I used my fastball, four-seamers, two-seamers, but lots of fastballs."

Most importantly, Jimenez made an adjustment and it worked, unlike his ongoing problems to start the season when the Rockies lost 13 of his first 14 starts, and he failed to get past the fifth inning in seven of them.

"It was good to make the adjustments from one game to the next," said Jimenez. "Now I need to make the adjustments from one pitch to the next."

ROCKIES 5, ASTROS 3: Brad Hawpe singled to drive in one run and scored another in the three-run fourth, and then walked and scored in a two-run fifth Friday. Ubaldo Jimenez earned his 10th win, coming out after the first two batters in the seventh reached base. Clint Barmes homered leading off the fifth to put the Rockies up 4-0. The win pulled the Rockies to within five games of NL West-leading Arizona.