MLB: Colorado 4, San Francisco 3

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Jorge De La Rosa allowed only three hits over eight innings Wednesday and Colorado survived a shaky ninth inning for a key 4-3 win over San Francisco.

The Rockies salvaged the finale of a three-game series, ended a four-game losing streak and boosted their lead over the Giants to 3 1/2 games in the National League wild-card race.

Colorado also remained five games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the lead in the NL West.

De La Rosa (15-9) has suffered only two losses since the All-Star Game and came through with one of the clutch efforts of the season for the Rockies. He struck out nine and walked two while throwing 111 pitches and left the game with a 4-0 lead.

The Rockies then held on in the ninth, during which the Giants sent seven men to the plate and scored three runs on three hits with the help of a throwing error by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

San Francisco had runners on second and third with two runs in and just one away when Rafael Betancourt got Randy Winn to ground out to first. That allowed Eli Whiteside to score and Eugenio Velez to move to third base as the potential tying run.

Betancourt then struck out Nate Schierholtz on a 3-2 pitch to end the game. It was Betancourt's second save.

Tulowitzki hit a solo homer in the fourth and Ian Stewart had a two-run shot in the sixth to help the Rockies build their 4-0 lead.

Matt Cain (13-6) took the loss, surrendering four runs on five hits in six innings.