Clayton Mortensen picked the perfect time to put up zeros.

Mortensen clawed his way through six innings and then handed it over to the bullpen to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.

After three straight sub-par outings, Mortensen’s spot in the rotation was becoming tenuous. But now with this performance, Mortensen hopes his name stays in the mix.

“I sure hope so,” Mortensen said. “It definitely wasn’t pretty. But to be able to keep them at zero runs and keep that one run lead was big. It worked out really nice.”

Mortensen (2-3) and five relievers shut down San Diego for its 10th shutout of the season, tops in the majors. It was also the seventh time the Padres had been shut out at home, the most since they moved into Petco Park in 2004.

The Rockies won for just the fifth time in 17 games, but continued their success at Petco Park where they have won eight of the last 10.

Mortensen allowed five hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked two before he gave way to the relief corp. Huston Street pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances.

Matt Reynolds, the fourth Colorado reliever, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. Rafael Betancourt started the inning and gave up a single and walk with one out. After he struck out Jorge Cantu for the second out, Reynolds came in and walked pinch hitter Eric Patterson before he struck out Alberto Gonzalez.

“A great pitching performance by our entire staff,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “I thought Clayton Mortensen actually got better as he went along. The location of his pitches improved as he got into the game.”

With Aaron Cook returning from injury to make his first start this season on Wednesday, Colorado is facing a decision about its starting rotation. In his previous three starts, Mortensen had a 5.94 ERA as he lost all three starts.

“If there is any type of adjustment that we have to make, all he did was make a strong statement for himself that he wants his name tabled when that conversation comes up,” Tracy said.

San Diego stranded 11 base runners.

“We had some base runners but we just couldn’t break through,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “We couldn’t get that big hit.”

Troy Tulowitzki drove in the first run in the first inning and Seth Smith had an RBI triple. Chris Iannetta added a run-scoring single off Ernesto Frieri in the ninth.

Colorado raised its June road record to 3-2, one road win more than it had in May (2-11).

Clayton Richard (2-7) took the loss despite one of his better starts this season. The left-hander gave up one run on five hits over seven innings and struck out a season-high eight with three walks.

“Most of my pitches felt good,” Richard said. “In the first inning, I felt like the stuff was good. We were just kind of cruising getting quick outs. I was able to kind of pound the strike zone.”

The Rockies reached Richard for a run in the first inning after Chris Nelson’s one-out triple and Tulowitzki’s ground ball that caromed off Richard’s foot for an infield single.

San Diego had runners on second and third with one out in the first, but Mortensen struck out Ryan Ludwick and Brad Hawpe to end the inning.

Chase Headley extended his career-high hitting streak to 16 games with a first-inning single.

NOTES: The Rockies have scored three runs or less in 12 of the last 13 games. … Colorado reliever Rex Brothers made his major-league debut in the seventh inning. … Colorado CF Dexter Fowler (abdomen discomfort) sat out his second straight game after playing in the first 57. … Rockies manager Jim Tracy moved slumping OF Carlos Gonzalez into the leadoff slot from the No. 3 hole in the batting order. Tracy said the move was to jump start the struggling Gonzalez, who struck out four times in Sunday’s loss at San Francisco. For the three-game series, Gonzalez was 2 for 11 with seven strikeouts. … Padres 1B Brad Hawpe played RF for the first time this season. Hawpe, who played right field almost exclusively for seven seasons with Colorado and Tampa Bay, had played just nine games at 1B before this season.

PITTSBURGH (AP)—The Pirates’ comeback ended when rookie Mike Crotta(notes) lost control.

Crotta walked three of the four batters he faced in the seventh, including a pass to Seth Smith(notes) with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run in the Colorado Rockies’ 6-5 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The loss capped a 1-3 opening home series for the Pirates, dropping them to 5-5 after beginning the season by winning four of six on the road—a start that had Pittsburgh fans hoping this squad could finally end a string of 18 straight losing seasons.

“Tough day,” said Crotta (0-1), who was charged with the first run of his career. “I just didn’t execute my pitches; that’s my job. You come in and got to get outs and it’s tough to get outs when you walk people.”

James McDonald(notes) settled in after allowing six of the first eight batters to reach, allowing the Pirates to score five unanswered runs before they went hitless over the final five innings.

All four batters who faced Crotta reached base after he relieved McDonald with two outs and a runner on with Pittsburgh clinging to a 5-4 lead in the seventh. Jason Giambi’s(notes) RBI single tied the game.

Pittsburgh had only one baserunner after the end of the fourth inning—a Jose Tabata(notes) seventh-inning walk. Tabata stole second, but cleanup hitter Lyle Overbay(notes) struck out looking to end the threat.

“We just got into a situation where we didn’t continue hitting,” Overbay said. “We didn’t get that killer instinct and get that (big hit).”

The Pirates scored 14 runs in the equivalent of 4 1/2 games—including a 14-inning victory Friday—on 28 hits in 41 innings.

“Can we improve on offense? Yes, we can,” manager Clint Hurdle said.

Colorado’s bullpen was nearly flawless and the Rockies improved to 6-2— their second-best start in franchise history. If not for two extra-inning losses, they’d be unbeaten.

“We’re solid, it doesn’t matter if we play at home or on the road,” said closer Huston Street(notes), who got his fourth save with a perfect ninth. “We expect to win.”

Jose Lopez(notes) hit a three-run homer and Smith had an RBI single in the first inning for the Rockies, who have been alone in first place in the NL West five straight days for the first time since 2006.

Last season, the Rockies were awful on the road, posting a 31-50 record.

“There were a lot of things we didn’t do well on the road last year,” manager Jim Tracy said. “So we went back to the drawing board in spring training and brought up bullet points as far as 31-50—why did it happen? We have certainly addressed some things. We’ve done a better job of executing.”

Jhoulys Chacin(notes) (2-0) allowed four earned runs and seven hits in six innings as Colorado’s starters improved to 5-0 this season. But they wouldn’t be unblemished if not for the Rockies’ relievers. Felipe Paulino(notes), Matt Reynolds(notes), Matt Lindstrom(notes) and Street combined for three hitless, scoreless innings.

“Our bullpen was terrific,” said Tracy, who had to be creative the past two days after using eight pitchers in Friday’s 14-inning loss.

McDonald managed to stay around until the seventh after the rocky first. He has had nice success against Colorado, recording three of his nine career wins against the Rockies.

But whatever comfort the right-hander had against them wasn’t evident in the first when he struggled with his control, and the Rockies pounced with Lopez’s second homer, a shot into the left-field seats that dropped the Pirates into a 4-0 hole.

“I just kind of settled down and kind of had a talk to myself,” McDonald said. “‘You need to really pick it up; keep your team in the game. They got those runs and that’s all they’re getting.’ I kind of had to motivate myself to hold that game and keep it close. … I thought like that and went on from there.”

McDonald threw 103 pitches in his second start of the season after being limited by an injury to his left side during spring training.

“Huge step forward,” Hurdle said. “He did an outstanding job for us today after the first inning.”

Overbay had two RBIs and Jose Tabata was on base three times—extending his hitting streak to 10 games—for the Pirates, who scored three in the third and passed Colorado with an unearned run in the fourth.

NOTES: Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez(notes) threw a bullpen session without any trouble. Tracy said Jimenez, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a cut finger cuticle, will next pitch in Scottsdale, Ariz., on April 13. … The Pirates finally get a day off Monday. They were the only team in the majors to play the season’s first 10 days without a break. … Colorado has outscored its opponents 14-1 in the first. … Rockies LF Carlos Gonzalez(notes) didn’t start because of flulike symptoms. He grounded into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.