DENVER -- Righty reliever Scott Oberg earning a save in Wednesday night’s 5-4 victory over the D-backs symbolized the Rockies’ route from a poor start to .500 -- a significant marker on what they hope is their climb into National League West contention.

The Rockies didn’t plan on Oberg closing, but Wade Davis is out with a left oblique injury, and Oberg earned his first save of the season by striking out two -- not always the m.o. of a ground-ball guy. But the Rockies have improved from a 3-12 start to the season by adjusting, and finding new ways.

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Colorado not only has won four straight and seven of its last nine, but it is 5-1 on what will be a season-long 10-game homestand with three one-run and one two-run victories.

“We’ve been playing really well, especially late, tight games, a few extra-inning wins,” said Oberg, who completed a four-man, one-hit, one-run bullpen performance. “It shows the resilience we have as a club. We started off coming out of the gate a little bit slow, but we’re playing good baseball. We’re going to be hitting our stride pretty soon.”

The Rockies (27-27) are winning, but see another level to reach. They’ll have to do so to whittle the distance from the six-time defending division champion Dodgers, who started as hot as the Rockies were cold.

“When you see that [the .500 record] as a group from where we’ve been, it feels good,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “The trick is to continue and stay on base, but we’ve played, overall the last month, good baseball.”

The upshot of Wednesday’s win is the Rockies are making strides, but still have areas to improve. Here is how the various segments performed Wednesday, and a look at how they are doing overall:

Offense: The home team had 10 hits, including Brendan Rodgers, the Rockies’ top prospect, per MLB Pipeline, hitting a two-run, bases-loaded single in the fourth and pitcher Jeff Hoffman’s RBI on a surprise push bunt later in the inning. But the Rockies hit into four double plays, three by catcher Chris Iannetta, whose homer broke open Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory over the D-backs.

But every member of the starting lineup, except Iannetta, reached base against D-backs starter Robbie Ray, who lasted just 4 2/3 innings. The baserunning was aggressive, with Ian Desmond being thrown out at third trying to stretch a leadoff double in the second, and Trevor Story succeeding at gaining a double on a short grounder into the outfield in the seventh.

“Pressure is a good thing for us to apply to the other team,” Black said.

The Rockies have been working to trim strikeouts, but took six against Ray, nine overall.

Starting pitching: Hoffman, whose chance came with Tyler Anderson’s potentially season-ending left knee injury, was laboring during the D-backs’ two-run second to the point that Black came to the mound for a talk that was as motivational as strategic. Hoffman pulled it together to give up just one more run -- Adam Jones’ fifth-inning homer -- and strike out six in five innings for his first win of 2019.

A couple of bad turns through the rotation helped put the Rockies in their early-season hole, but the current trip is a little better. The last four games have brought passable results from righty German Marquez (6 1/3 innings, four runs), Jon Gray (5 1/3 innings, two runs before a “hot spot” on his right middle finger ended Monday’s start against the D-backs), Antonio Senzatela (six innings, two runs) and Hoffman.

The Rockies struggled for much of June last season, before the rotation keyed a run that helped the Rockies force a Game 163 against the Dodgers and make the postseason for the second straight year. Is this modest string the start of a more formidable run?

“In the rotation, I think that’s coming, and that will help us continue this upward push,” Black said. “But we’ve got to stay on it.”

Bullpen: Before Oberg, the work of Seunghwan Oh, Carlos Estevez and Bryan Shaw helped the Rockies maintain the lead Wednesday. And the ‘pen has been solid throughout.

Even without Davis since May 14 and lefty Chris Rusin, who hasn’t appeared in the Majors this season, the bullpen ranks second in the NL with a 3.92 ERA, and is tied for second-fewest home runs at 22. The 22nd homer came in the sixth inning: Carson Kelly off Oh with two down.

With the starting pitching not having caught fire and the offensive performance variable, bullpen consistency has helped secure some games that could have escaped.

“We’re conditioned for anything,” Black said. “Whether we fall behind, we can come back. Whether we have the lead, we can hang on to it. We just keep playing. But it’s a good sign that our bullpen is keeping us in the game, and the games that we are ahead we are, for the most part, staying ahead. We’re playing good defense. We don’t beat ourselves.

“We’re used to these games. We’re used to any game.”