SAN FRANCISCO – Troy Tulowitzki doesn't want his Colorado teammates to start thinking about the playoffs just yet. But the Rockies' shortstop doesn't mind a little daydreaming every now and then.
Jeff Francis earned his first victory in more than two months, Yorvit Torrealba homered and Colorado won for the eighth time in 10 games, beating the Giants 4-2 Monday night.
"I think we learned a lot from last year," Tulowitzki said.
"Just take it game by game and don't worry about how many games you're down. If we take care of business and keep on taking care of business every day, everything else will take care of itself."
Colorado is doing just that.
The Rockies, who stormed into the postseason in 2007 by winning 14 of their final 15 games, are trying to make a late push once again after stumbling through the first three months of the season.
Colorado pulled within seven games of Arizona in the N.L. West with 29 games remaining, six of them against the Diamondbacks.
"It all comes down to execution," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We just did not execute well at home early and we didn't execute well on the road early. We've been on a nice little roll now."
Francis (4-8) was winless in his last five starts but maintained his recent domination of the Giants by allowing seven hits over seven innings and repeatedly pitching his way out of trouble after giving up two runs in the first inning. He got his first win since June 18.
The Rockies' left-hander, who has won his last four starts against San Francisco, worked out of bases-loaded jam with no outs in the third and benefited from two double plays.
"It's a good feeling," Francis said. "I'm making better pitches now than I was before. I'm commanding my fastball a lot better and I'm able to stay ahead in a lot more counts."
Tulowitzki had two hits and an RBI, and Ian Stewart and Garrett Atkins had two hits each for Colorado, which won its third in a row and is 23-14 since the All-Star break. Only the Brewers, Cubs and Devil Rays have been better during that stretch.
Randy Winn went 3 for 4 for San Francisco, which had its season-high five-game winning streak come to an end. It was only the Giants' second loss in their last nine games against teams within their own division.
San Francisco starter Matt Cain (8-10) had not lost in his previous four starts but ran into trouble early when Torrealba homered in the second after Stewart's leadoff single.
