This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DENVER -- By the fifth inning of their 9-1 victory over the Giants on Thursday afternoon, the game was headed in a comfortable direction for the Rockies. But given the way Colorado’s season has gone, there was a big moment -- and pitcher Cal Quantrill knew it.

During their last road trip, the Rockies blew a 5-0 lead in Miami and a 3-0 lead in Pittsburgh. In each game, they scored all the runs in one inning -- the first inning against the Marlins and the second against the Pirates. So when they scored seven in the bottom of the fourth Thursday, it was not a given that they would score more. Any momentum from the opposition could have started the snowball-to-boulder effect that has led to so many losses.

With one out and two on in the fifth, Quantrill faced Michael Conforto, who an inning earlier had lined an opposite-field homer to left field when, Quantrill noted, “I thought I made a good pitch.”

Same plan, same pitch in a full count, only the result was an inning-ending double play that Quantrill celebrated with a punch in the air as he left the field.

“I didn’t want to go to a three-ball count, but we got there,” Quantrill said. “I executed a pitch, and we were able to turn two.”

Quantrill finished his sixth and final inning with two strikeouts, only this inning ended with him strolling matter-of-factly off the mound after freezing Austin Slater on a split-finger pitch.

Quantrill finished with five strikeouts and just one run allowed in six innings. He overcame three walks.

During the Rockies’ Major League-worst 9-28 start, the list of what’s dependable is short. But Quantrill leads the team with five quality starts, including all three of his starts at Coors Field. Quantrill also won in Pittsburgh (7 2/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts) last Friday, and is the first Rockies pitcher with consecutive wins since Austin Gomber, who won four straight from June 25-July 14 last season.

Quantrill, Gomber and Ryan Feltner have pitched well more often than not. That often is not enough for a team challenged offensively and in the bullpen, but Quantrill is accepting the challenge. He has embraced Coors to the tune of a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings.

“It’s just being competitive -- not being OK with how things have gone this year for us,” Quantrill said. “I want to win when I pitch. When it’s here, I choose to look at it as an advantage because I know [the opposing starter] doesn’t want to pitch here.”

During the winter, the Rockies traded Minor League catcher Kody Huff to the Guardians for Quantrill, who was designated for assignment after dealing with on-and-off trips to the injured list with a shoulder problem that he later admitted he should have given more time to heal when it flared up the first time.

When manager Bud Black arrived in 2017 and led the team to the postseason his first two years, he preached pitchers leaning on a pitch mix that fit their styles rather than trying to change for the park. Quantrill developed the split-finger pitch toward the end of last season, and the Rockies were fine with him seeing how much it could help his pitch mix.

“He has a lot of confidence in his stuff,” Black said after Thursday’s game. “A couple of at-bats got away from him, a couple of walks, but his intent is to pound the strike zone with all his pitches. The split-finger pitch was effective, but he got some outs with the fastball, got a couple outs with the fastball. His two-seam sinker and the split are his primary factors, and enough sliders and the occasional curveball keep them off-balance.”