Troy Tulowitzki continued his hot streak with a huge day at the plate to help the Colorado Rockies avoid a three-game sweep against the NL West-leading San Diego Padres with a 9-6 victory on Wednesday.

Tulowitzki, who came into the game riding a 7-for-22 stretch, had a pair of three-run homers and tied a career high with seven RBIs on three hits. His partner in crime, Carlos Gonzalez, added two hits and a pair of RBIs.

Colorado now sits 2 ½ games back of the Padres in the West and 2 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL wild card race.

The Rockies jumped out to a 9-2 lead by the end of the fourth inning before San Diego made it a bit more interesting late in the game.

Jorge De La Rosa (8-4) threw 7 1/3 innings for Colorado, giving up five runs on six hits while striking out seven. Huston Street earned his 19th save of the year.

Clayton Richard (12-8) was hammered for eight runs on 11 hits over just three innings of work for San Diego.

Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez had two home runs, pushing his season total to 29, and finished with five RBIs. Miguel Tejada went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored while Yorvit Torrealba hit his sixth home run of the year.