Jimenez wins club record No. 18 for Rockies

DENVER • Ubaldo Jimenez stuck around long enough to turn a clunker into a classic.
Another bloop single or broken-bat flare from getting pulled in the third inning, Jimenez buckled down to win his club-record 18th game despite a wild outing as the surging Colorado Rockies rallied from a four-run deficit Monday to beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-5.

“He was one gapper away,” Colorado manager Jim Tracy conceded.

And Jimenez knew it.

“I saw (Samuel Deduno) up in the bullpen and I was like, ‘Uh-oh, I’d better find a way to get back on stride,’” Jimenez said.

He did — just barely.

Jimenez struck out Drew Stubbs to leave the bases loaded in the third inning, something he’d do twice more before giving way to his bullpen to get the final nine outs.

“He wasn’t locating the ball well, but there’s been many games where he’s pitched very well and hasn’t gotten the win,” teammate Todd Helton said. “So, he deserves a few of these. He’s had a great season. He has great stuff and he’s put in a lot of hard work to win 18 games. And he probably could have won a lot more.”

Even though he leads the NL in victories, Jimenez (18-6) hadn’t won since Aug. 4. He snapped his four-game losing streak even though he didn’t have his usual command and struggled through a 123-pitch effort.

He allowed seven hits and had six walks, one of them intentional, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter in six innings.

The Reds’ lead in the NL Central was cut to six games over St. Louis, which beat Milwaukee 8-6.

Troy Tulowitzki homered, tripled and drove in three runs for the Rockies, and Carlos Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.