Colorado Rockies' Brendan Rodgers breaks from the batter's box after connecting for a single to drive in two runs off Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Robbie Ray in the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story throws to first base to put out Arizona Diamondbacks' Nick Ahmed during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Arizona Diamondbacks' Kevin Cron, left, scores on a single hit by Blake Swihart as Colorado Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta turns to apply a late tag in the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman works against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Arizona Diamondbacks' Adam Jones follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman in the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Seunghwan Oh works against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Denver.

Back to .500 for the first time since March 31 after a series-clinching, 5-4 win against Arizona on Wednesday night, the ultimate verdict on the playoff-worthiness of the Rockies is still to be determined.

But this much is certain. Bud Black is managing a resilient bunch, as evidenced by how the club has responded from a franchise-worst 3-12 start and subsequent turbulence before the calendar even turned to June.

“When you see that (turnaround) as a group, from where we’ve been, it feels good,” Black said. “Now the trick is to continue and stay on pace, but overall in the last month, we’ve played really good baseball … And against a division rival who came in here playing pretty well, it’s a good W.”

Wednesday at Coors Field, the Rockies rode a serviceable effort by Jeff Hoffman, who allowed three runs over five innings with six strikeouts in his third start of the year. They also got a group effort offensively, with no eye-popping homers or hit brigades but several effective at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Station-to-station baseball led to an early Rockies lead in the first inning, as two singles, a flyout to advance leadoff man Raimel Tapia to third base and Mark Reynolds’ RBI groundout made it 1-0.

But Arizona retaliated against Hoffman in the second inning, plating a pair of runs thanks to RBI knocks by Blake Swihart and Carson Kelly. The right-hander stranded the bases loaded by striking out Eduardo Escobar to end the frame with the Diamondbacks leading 2-1, but not before Black trotted out for an extensive chat to keep the inning from completely derailing.

“I wanted to make Jeff aware that it was the second inning and there was a lot of game left to be played,” Black said. “He needed to keep himself in check, because the pitcher was coming up. He was probably going to bunt, so we needed to get that out and then limit the damage.”

The middle of the game featured further back-and-forth jabs between the National League West foes as Hoffman used his changeup more extensively, throwing it 19 times to keep the Arizona hitters off-rhythm.

“The changeup was big tonight,” Hoffman said. “One of the first things (pitching coach Scott) Foster said to me in the scouting meeting was that I had to throw the changeup over the plate, because that was going to be the pitch that was going to be the equalizer.”

Colorado used Brendan Rodgers’ bases-loaded, two-RBI single to right and Hoffman’s crafty two-out, RBI push bunt single that followed to go back ahead 4-2 in the fourth inning against southpaw Robbie Ray. A solo homer by Adam Jones off Hoffman in the top of the fifth inning was then negated as a throwing error on a pickoff by reliever Stefan Crichton led to an unearned run for the Rockies in the bottom of the inning.

“We battled offensively, and as a team we had really good at-bats,” Rodgers said. “We took advantage a couple times with guys on base. In my at-bat, I was sitting on the slider he threw me and put a short, compact swing on it and didn’t try to do too much.”

Then, a two-out solo homer by Kelly off Seunghwan Oh in the sixth inning chipped Colorado’s lead to 5-4. But blemish-free frames by Carlos Estevez, Bryan Shaw and Scott Oberg secured Colorado’s fourth straight win. Oberg earned his first save of the season and first since 2016. Hoffman picked up his first win since 2017.

“They nicked us for a solo homer off Seunghwan, who fell behind their catcher and he threw a strike (Kelly) could handle,” Black said. “Estevez got through his leadoff walk, Chris (Iannetta) picked up Bryan with a stolen base throwout and then Oberg came in and pitched very aggressive.”

Kyle Newman is a sports writer for The Denver Post who covers the Colorado Rockies and other pro, college and high school athletics. Prior to that, he was executive editor of the Colorado Sports Network and The Fan Varsity Sports Network. He is a 2012 graduate of the ASU Cronkite School.