The Juice: Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki team up for five homers as Rockies clo

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For the Colorado Rockies, it's always an uphill battle to prove they can not only hit on the road, but win games consistently away from Coors Field. It becomes much easier, however, when Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki are both healthy enough to put the entire offense on their backs. We saw a good example of that Wednesday night as Colorado's dreaded 3-4 combo teamed up to hit five home runs in a 12-4 beatdown of the Cincinnati Reds.

It was Gonzalez who did the majority of home run damage, connecting for a solo shot in the first, a 458-foot three-run blast in the fourth and a two-run roundtripper in the eighth. Tulowitzki, on the other hand, had a more complete offensive game with two home runs and three singles as he tied a career-high with five hits. For good measure, Todd Helton added his sixth home run to help round out Colorado's merciless 20-hit attack.

Here's a little more on the Rockies performance courtesy of Joe Kay from the Associated Press:

The Rockies hadn't hit six homers in a game since they had that many against the Marlins on July 4, 2008, according to STATS LLC.

''When we get some guys hitting in our lineup at the same time, it's a dangerous lineup,'' manager Walt Weiss said. ''Two really good players in the middle of our lineup were swinging the bat well tonight.''

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Unfortunately for Cincinnati, the result here was just the tip of the iceberg on an all-arould rough day. Their scheduled starter, Johnny Cueto, had to be scratched early in the afternoon with a right late injury. He was later placed on the 15-day DL. 25-year-old Pedro Villarreal was called up for the spot start and ended up taking the ugly loss.

Six is enough: The Rockies weren't the only team to hit six home runs on Wednesday. Believe it or not, the Houston Astros hot-hitting offense matched them in their 11-7 win over the Baltimore Orioles. And their performance may have even been a little more impressive as it came from six different players. Carlos Pena, J.D. Martinez and Jason Castro all had two-run homers, and Jose Altuve, Matt Dominguez and Marwin Gonzalez each delivered solo homers to help Houston win its seventh in eight games.

Finally!: In his best outing since shutting out the Miami Marlins last Aug. 31, R.A. Dickey held the San Francisco Giants to two hits and two walks over 8 1/3 scoreless innings as the Blue Jays cruised to a 4-0 victory. Needless to say, this is the outing Toronto has been waiting for out of the 38-year-old knuckleballer, and they have to be particularly relieved that it comes on the heels of allowing six earned runs in back-to-back starts against Baltimore and Atlanta.

''He was just about perfect today,'' Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ''He had it all going on. He was in the strike zone. Everything was really dancing today. ... That's him at his best right there.''

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With the win, Dickey improves to 5-7. Meanwhile, his ERA dipped to 4.66.

C.C. tops the Tribe: C.C. Sabathia wasn’t too bad himself on Wednesday, carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning against his former team, the Cleveland Indians. Sabathia would go on to allow a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh innings respectively, but in true workhorse fashion pushed his way to finish line for his first complete game of the season in the Yankees 6-4 victory.

Sabathia’s effort allowed manager Joe Girardi to rest his top two relievers, Mariano Rivera and David Robertson, after each had worked the two previous games. Rivera did loosen up briefly in the ninth but wasn’t needed. In total, Sabathia needed 116 pitches to go the distance while striking out nine Indians. He struck out a season-high 10 Boston Red Sox on May 31, so he’s clearly hitting his stride on a good time for New York.

MORE SCORES

Braves 5, Pirates 0: The season’s first no-hitter remains elusive as Julio Teheran comes up four outs short. He struck out 11.

Phillies 6, Marlins 1: Philadelphia reaches .500 (30-30) for the first time since April 14.

A’s 6, Brewers 1: Oakland is a major league best 18-6 since May 11.

White Sox 7, Mariners 5 (16 inn.): Seems these two teams always manage to make history at Safeco Field.

Mets 10, Nationals 1: Washington officially placed Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day DL and then followed up with this uninspiring performance. If this isn't the low point of their season, they'll likely finish as MLB's most disappointing team.

Cubs 8, Angels 6 (1o inn.): Back-and-forth battle settled on Anthony Rizzo's three-run double in tenth.

Rays 3, Tigers 0: Alex Cobb tossed 7 2/3 scoreless to get the no-decision for Tampa. Joel Peralta gets the win thanks to a three-run ninth. He retired one batter.

Rangers 3, Red Sox 2: Elvis Andrus breaks 1 for 18 slump with go-ahead two-run double.

Royals 4, Twins 1: Kansas City snaps their 11-game home losing streak.

Diamondbacks 10, Cardinals 3: If Paul Goldschmidt is not an all-star, I move the game be cancelled. Arizona's slugging first baseman connected for his second grand slam in five days and has 14 homers overall.

Padres 6, Dodgers 2: Jason Marquis refuses to go away. He's a seven-game winner.

''The thing is, for someone like me sitting across on the other side, sitting for eight innings, I basically get to scout him for eight innings.''

''I couldn't see exactly what he was throwing, but I could see what he was getting guys out with. It was just a great game he pitched. ... I tip my hat to him. He did an excellent job. Handled it well, too.''

— Brandon Inge on breaking up Julio Teheran's no-hit bid in the eighth inning.

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A Walmart in Branson, MO pays homage to the St. Louis Cardinals.

• According to Elias, Domonic Brown's 10 home runs in his last 12 games has been done three times before in Phillies history: Cy Williams (1923), Mike Schmidt (1976) and Ryan Howard (2006).

• In addition to pitchinh a gem, R.A. Dickey delivered his first extra-base hit (double) since doubling against the Phillies on Sept. 24, 2010.

• After hitting 11 home runs for Arizona and Milwaukee last season, Cody Ransom now has five more for the Chicago Cubs this year. He had nine total in his previous nine big league seasons.

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