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Rockies manager Clint Hurdle wants to keep things low key. Todd Helton is of the same opinion.

Bottom line, however, is the Rockies feel they are in a good place this season, and with the way Helton is suddenly swinging the bat, good is getting better.

A strikeout victim in his first two at-bats against Milwaukee left-hander Chris Capuano at Coors Field on Tuesday night, Helton singled during a sixth-inning rally that sent the Rockies on their way to an 11-4 victory, and he added the exclamation point with home runs in his next two at-bats, his first multihomer game in nearly two years.

With their 14th win in the last 17 games at Coors Field, the Rockies not only extended their franchise record streak of consecutive series won at home to nine and moved into a tie with the Dodgers for third place in the NL West, four games back of division-leading Arizona, but they also felt a lift from Helton's power display.

They did it with a mid-game offensive explosion against Capuano, 0-9 his last 14 starts, on a night when Rockies starter Jason Hirsh shook off being hit on the ankle by a J.J. Hardy shot in the first to turn in six solid innings, and when rookie catcher Edwin Bellorin's big league debut after more than eight years in the minors was cut short when he suffered a strained left hamstring in his first at-bat.

"We get some guys going, especially if Todd gets hot with the rest of our lineup, it is going to be big," rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said.

There are signs that Helton is about to explode. The leading active hitter in the month of August, Helton enjoyed his first three-hit game in exactly a month and drove in four runs, giving him seven in the last three games.

"It is nice to see, but let's just let it play out," said Hurdle. "He has been working hard. He was able to finish some swings off."

Helton has seven hits his last 14 at-bats. And, he said the biggest was that single off Capuano in the midst of a five-run sixth that Tulowitzki led off with a home run, and in which the Rockies erased a 3-0 deficit.

"The thing I'm proudest of is not the two home runs, but the way I came back after those the terrible first two at-bats," he said. "There were two ways to go there and I kept battling."

But then, Helton wasn't the only one who refused to give up. That's why the Rockies climbed back to four games above .500 (58-54), equaling a season-high point, and it started with Hirsh, making his second start after spending a month on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle.

He wasn't about to let the ankle sideline him again.

"I'll didn't want to come out of the game regardless of how the ankle felt," Hirsh said. "I did not have great velocity but for some reason I was able to get the ball down better (in the game) than I did in the bullpen."

He gave up only three hits in six innings. All three runs he allowed came on sacrifice flies. One of the runs was unearned.

"We just wanted to make sure (the ankle) was not affecting his delivery and he was not favoring it a bit when he was throwing the ball," said Hurdle. "It was a good effort from him, an effort we needed."

The key was Hirsh keeping the game close. And then when the Rockies started to open up the offense in the sixth, Capuano was visibility affected, pounding his glove and shaking his head, the frustrations of having not won since May 7 becoming apparent.

"He was making good pitches, trying to get outs and we were getting hits," said Tulowitzki. "That's definitely going to be frustrating."

First, Tulowitzki drove his home run to center. Then Matt Holliday came up with an infield single and went to third on Helton's ensuing single. When Garrett Atkins singled home Holliday, Capuano gave way to Carlos Villanueva, who couldn't get out of the inning until the Rockies led 5-3. Then they batted around again in the eighth against relievers Brian Shouse, Chris Spurling and DeWayne Wise.

"Todd has better at-bats and Tulo (moved up to second in the order) and he responded," Hurdle said in reference to Tulowtizkis' second multihit game in 17 games. "These guys are not robots. They are not machines. They have their ups and downs."

Right now, it's an up time for the Rockies.