Cueto wins 18th to keep Giants in thick of wild card race

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Johnny Cueto pitched seven uneven innings for his 18th win and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Thursday night, setting up a wild race to the finish for the NL wild card.

With three games left the Giants are one game behind the idle New York Mets and one game ahead of St. Louis. The Cardinals beat Cincinnati on Thursday.

San Francisco hosts the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning Friday, the Cardinals play Pittsburgh at home and the Mets close out the regular season in Philadelphia.

Cueto (18-5) overcame a shaky start in his first appearance since being sidelined more than a week with a groin strain. The All-Star right-hander matched his season high of 11 strikeouts, allowed two runs, nine hits and walked one to beat the Colorado for the third time this season.

Conor Gillaspie, Angel Pagan and Brandon Crawford had two hits apiece to help the Giants bounce back after getting shut out a night earlier.