Major League Baseball

Beltran, Bay both hit slams as Mets roll

Published Jun. 28, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Jason Bay's drive down the line in left field stayed fair, giving the New York Mets their first grand slam in nearly two years.

Their next drought was a lot shorter.

Carlos Beltran hit a grand slam the following inning, and the rout was very much on.

New York beat the Detroit Tigers 14-3 on Tuesday night to move back above .500 - and snapped a peculiar streak of 299 games without a bases-loaded homer.

''Sometimes in this game, there's things that take a while to happen,'' Beltran said. ''Today, we were able to hit two. No explanation for it.''

There is an explanation for why the Mets (40-39) have a winning record: They're starting to hit.

Jose Reyes went 4 for 4 with a double and a triple - his second straight four-hit game. He and Angel Pagan both reached base five times.

The Mets scored 14 runs for the second time in three games. They beat Texas 14-5 on Saturday. New York has scored 36 runs in its last three games.

Reyes needed a homer for the cycle but settled for a walk in the seventh inning. He was then lifted for a pinch-runner.

''I tried. I was looking for something in,'' he said. ''Everything away, so I take a walk.''

New York had been without a grand slam since Pagan hit one Aug. 1, 2009, then Bay and Beltran cleared the bases in the fourth and fifth innings off reliever Daniel Schlereth.

The Mets are above .500 for the first time since they were 3-2 in early April.

Detroit starter Rick Porcello (6-6) allowed seven runs and 11 hits in 3 2-3 innings.

''He threw some bad pitches that they hit, and he threw some good pitches that they hit,'' Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. ''They were aggressive and they beat us up pretty well.''

New York's R.A. Dickey (4-7) gave up three runs and 10 hits in seven innings. He walked three and struck out six on a night with little stress.

''What you guys are doing here is a little bit ridiculous,'' Dickey joked when reporters surrounded him after the game. ''If I'm even mentioned in an article, I'm going to boycott.''

The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI doubles by Daniel Murphy and Pagan. They scored seven runs in the fourth - all after Porcello retired the first two batters. That was an ugly turnabout for the Tigers, who scored seven runs with two outs in the eighth inning on Sunday against Arizona.

Josh Thole started New York's big rally with a solo homer, his first of the season. Reyes followed with his 15th triple and he scored on a single by Willie Harris to make it 4-0. Beltran and Murphy added two more singles, with Harris scoring on Murphy's.

Schlereth relieved Porcello and walked Pagan to load the bases. Bay ended his team's grand slam drought and made it 9-0.

''To go from that to two in one game, I think was pretty unforeseen,'' Bay said.

The Milwaukee Brewers are now the team with the longest dry spell, with no grand slams since June 14, 2010, according to STATS, LLC. The Mets gave up 18 grand slams during their drought, the most in baseball.

Beltran's grand slam in the fifth was more toward left-center and it gave the Mets a 13-0 lead. The last club with grand slams in consecutive innings was Washington on July 27, 2009, according to STATS.

It was the ninth career grand slam for Beltran and the third for Bay.

Now Dickey wants the Mets to end another streak.

''I guess the no-hitter's next, right?'' he said.

The Mets have never pitched one.

Notes: Austin Jackson and Andy Dirks homered for the Tigers, and Justin Turner hit an RBI single in the eighth for New York to make it 14-3. ... Reyes played his 1,000th game. He has 98 triples and 360 stolen bases. According to statistics provided by the Mets from the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other player with that many triples and stolen bases in his first 1,000 games - since 1898, when the modern stolen base rule was enacted - was Ty Cobb, who had 106 triples and 391 steals. ... Leyland said before the game he plans to rest OF Magglio Ordonez on Thursday, when this three-game series ends with a day game.

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