The Rockies flipped the script.

Thursday afternoon’s game was the kind they have lost so many times this year. And last year. And the year before that.

But they got the key hits in the key moments — especially from second baseman Thairo Estrada — and beat Houston, 7-6, at Coors Field.

“It’s about stacking these games on top of each other,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the Rockies avoided a three-game sweep and improved to 20-67. “We always have that fight, but today, they scored, we scored. … And there were some great individual performances. There was a lot of good stuff today.”

Of course, Houston, which had won seven consecutive games vs. Colorado entering the day, made the Rockies white-knuckle it in the ninth. With closer Seth Halvorsen on the mound, Jake Meyers led off with a triple to the right-field corner and scored on Jose Altuve’s groundout to short, cutting the lead to one run. Halvorsen struck out Cam Smith for out No. 2, but Christian Walker and catcher Victor Caratini hit back-to-back, two-out singles.

With the game in the balance, Cooper Hummel flew out to right fielder Tyler Freeman and Halvorsen breathed a sigh of relief and got his seventh save.

“Halvorsen (showed) some big guts there for a four-out save,” Schaeffer said.

The Rockies looked like they were going to follow a tired storyline in the seventh when they nearly wasted a prime scoring chance.

Freeman, who extended his career-high on-base streak to 18 games, reached on a single, and pinch-hitter Mickey Moniak roped a triple to left. But Freeman, running from first, was cut down at the plate for the second out. A video review showed that Caratini’s swipe tag got Freeman just before his hand touched the plate.

Schaeffer said it “burst our balloon a little bit,” but rather than fade away, left fielder Jordan Beck hit a two-out single to score Moniak, then Beck stole second. He was rewarded by Estrada’s RBI single to shallow left-center.

“That’s what this game is all about, getting the big hits,” Estrada said, using an interpreter. “As long as you compete and keep that energy going, good things are going to happen.”

Houston had tied the game, 5-5, in the top of the seventh against reliever Juan Mejia, though Mejia was hardly to blame. Issac Paredes scooted a one-out single past shortstop Ryan Ritter and Altuve looped a hit to Beck in left field, who dove for the ball and came up empty, giving Altuve a double.

Mejia got Smith to hit a flyball to shallow left-center for what should have been the final out, except that the ball dropped between Beck and center fielder Brenton Doyle, who appeared to miscommunicate, and rolled beyond them, giving Smith a two-out, two-run triple.

Estrada, who boosted his average to .317, went 3 for 4 and drove in four runs. He tied the game, 2-2, in the first with a two-run homer to left off Astros left-hander Brandon Walter. Estrada’s infield grounder scored Kyle Farmer to put Colorado in front, 3-2, in the third.

Estrada posted his second consecutive three-hit game and his fourth three-hit performance over his last six games overall. His four RBIs were his most as a Rockie and tied for the second-most of his career. He had five, playing for San Francisco, on July 2, 2021, at Arizona.

“Thairo had a huge two-run home run in the first, then he put the ball in play with that contact play in the third to score a run,” Schaeffer said. “This is what Thairo has been doing for a while. I don’t know if you watched him play defense today, but he was fantastic. He was all over the place.”

Starter Kyle Freeland’s luck was plain rotten in the Astros’ two-run first inning. Meyers reached on a one-out infield single to third, Altuve blooped a single to left, and Smith barely got his bat on the ball but squibbed a two-run double down the first-base line.

Freeland issued a leadoff walk to Hummel in the second, and it came back to haunt the lefty when Paredes ripped an RBI double to right, giving Houston a short-lived, 3-2 lead. Freeland was charged with three runs on six hits over six innings.