ST. LOUIS, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Darren Oliver won for the first time in over a month Thursday afternoon as Colorado blasted the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-4.
In the win, the Rockies hit four solo homers.
Oliver (11-10), who had dropped five straight decisions, worked 6 2/3 effective innings against his former team, allowing three runs, seven hits, with one walk and five strikeouts. He won for the first time since Aug. 3.
Oliver also got some help from Ron Belliard, Jay Payton, Kit Pellow, and Juan Uribe all hit solo home runs off Sterling Hitchcock. Pellow added a two-run single and Belliard had an RBI single in a three-run seventh for the Rockies, who collected 18 hits and took the rubber game of the series.
The Cardinals, who reached the National League Championship Series last season, remained 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Houston in the Central Division and 5 1/2 games behind the idle Florida Marlins in the wild card chase.
