Surprise, Ariz. ? Zack Greinke needed a good outing to stay in the mix for a spot in the Kansas City Royals rotation, and he delivered at the right time.

Greinke struck out six in four scoreless innings to help the Royals beat Colorado, 6-2, Wednesday.

Greinke entered the game with a 7.20 ERA in his first two appearances, and another mediocre outing might have put him far behind Brian Bannister and Joakim Soria for the fifth slot in the rotation, which is up for grabs.

“I just needed an outing to do good, just so they could see it,” Greinke said. “I felt like I’ve thrown good the times before, but just the results weren’t there. So I was like if I do the same thing or a little better, then it will be about time to even out, to where an outing will go my way instead of not.”

Greinke gave up four hits, walked none and lowered his ERA to 4.00.

“I was up in the zone in the third inning, but overall I thought I threw pretty good,” Greinke said. “I kept the ball down besides the third inning and had good off-speed stuff.”

Royals manager Buddy Bell said Greinke “did not harm his chances” with his outing Wednesday.

Mark Teahen, who went 2-for-2 and walked to raise his average to .385, hit a two-run homer off Rockies starter Rodrigo Lopez in the third.

The Royals, who had lost five of their previous six games, had 11 hits, including two by rookie Alex Gordon, who had a triple and is hitting .375.

Billy Butler, another rookie, singled in his only at-bat, scored a run and is hitting .500.

Lopez gave up three runs and six hits.

He struck out three and walked one in five innings.

The Rockies did not score until the ninth, when Jeff Baker led off with a homer off Kenny Ray. Chris Iannetta, who went 3-for-4, drove in the other run in the ninth.

Notes: Bell said Royals LHP John Bale would not pitch for a week to 10 days. An MRI exam of his sore arm and upper back has been sent to Kansas City for a reading. Bell said Bale could start the season on the disabled list.