Todd Helton homered and drove in two runs while Ubaldo Jimenez tossed eight superb innings as the Colorado Rockies posted a 2-1 road victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Helton led off the fourth inning against Jason Marquis (7-4) with his 10th home run of the season and gave Colorado a 2-0 lead with an RBI groundout in the fifth. The blast was Helton's first since June 12, ending a 22-game drought.

That was enough support for Jimenez (4-8), who retired the first 13 batters he faced and struck out eight en route to his third win in four decisions. Jimenez, who has allowed fewer than four earned runs in each of his last eight starts, surpassed Pedro Astacio for first place on the franchise list with 750 strikeouts.

Huston Street worked out of a jam in the ninth for his 26th save in 28 opportunities.

Ian Desmond had two hits and scored the lone run for Washington, which fell to 5-8 under manager Davey Johnson.