Kansas City's Gil Meche, front, reacts after giving up a three-run home run to Colorado's Garrett Atkins, back. Meche took the loss for the Royals on Saturday in Denver.

Denver ? Garrett Atkins has gone back to a line-drive mentality at the plate. And if one leaves the park, it’s that much better.

Atkins hit a three-run homer, and Taylor Buchholz scattered five hits in seven innings as the Colorado Rockies beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-4, on Saturday night.

“Just trying to hit line drives now,” Atkins said. “It felt like it’s been a while.”

It has. Atkins hit his first homer since April 14. He even managed a grin as he ran around the bases.

“I wasn’t sure how to act,” Atkins said of his third homer of the season. “I just put a good swing on it.”

The Rockies got a couple of good swings on Royals ace Gil Meche, who gave up two homers and five runs on eight hits in five innings.

That hasn’t happened much to Meche, particularly on the road. Brad Hawpe’s two-run homer to deep center in the fourth inning ended Meche’s scoreless road streak at 30 innings – a run that spanned five starts.

Meche (3-2) is actually relieved the streak is finished. It takes the pressure off.

“It’s impressive. I’ve pitched real well on the road this year, which is a little bit different than what I’m used to,” said Meche, who saw his ERA rise from 1.91 to 2.44. “I’m normally a little bit worse on the road. It’s been a good streak.”

Meche said the balls out of the humidor had a different feel than he’s used to.

“Some balls had seams, some didn’t,” he said. “I had some that were brand new that looked almost lopsided. I kept walking off the mound, licking my fingers, trying to get as much as I could to get something on it. No excuse. Just a bad day; I didn’t make good pitches when I needed.”

Todd Helton also homered – a solo shot in the seventh – and scored three runs for the Rockies, who received an impressive start from Buchholz (2-2). The right-hander won for the first time since April 18.

Buchholz rebounded from his last start when he gave up eight runs in 42â3 innings against San Francisco on May 13.

“That’s something I’ve always been battling – the consistency thing,” Buchholz said. “I was consistent (Saturday). The command was there.”

Helton liked what he saw from the 25-year-old Buchholz.

“I’m not a pitching coach, but he threw the ball really well,” Helton said.

After the game, Buchholz proudly displayed a red welt on his right forearm. It was courtesy of Emil Brown’s liner in the first inning. Buchholz shook off the injury and motioned that he was fine after a few warmup tosses.

“It’s going to be sore (today),” said Buchholz, who improved to 4-0 in interleague play. “I think I was lucky enough that it glanced off my glove a little bit.”

Buchholz isn’t sure when his next start may be. With Rodrigo Lopez set to come off the disabled list soon, Buchholz may find himself back in the bullpen.

“I think that’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’ll wait until they tell me.”

Ryan Shealy, who came up through the Colorado farm system before being traded last season, hit a three-run homer off Ramon Ramirez with two outs in the ninth. Brian Fuentes came on and got pinch-hitter Esteban German to ground out for his 11th save.