Remembering Mets History (2011) Carlos Beltran & Jason Bay Hit Grand Slams HRs Breaking Mets Grand Slam Drought

Tuesday June 28th, 2011: Terry Collins Mets (39-39) were on the inter league road trip in the Motor City to play Jim Leyland's Detroit Tigers. 

The Tigers would finish first that season beat the AL New York team in the ALDS then lose to Texas Rangers in the ALCS. The Tigers would win four straight AL Central tiles (2011-2014) getting to the 2012 World Series where they lost to the San Francisco Giants.

A crowd of 28,480 came out to Comerica Park as knuckleballer R.A. Dickey took on Rick Porcello. Porcello would win double figures six straight years. In 2016 with Boston, he led the AL with 22 wins then followed leading the league with 17 losses.

The Mets came into the game winning four of their last five games. 

In the top of the 1st, Jose Reyes led off with a base hit. With two outs, Reyes appeared to be picked off first base, but Rick Porcello's throw went past Miguel Cabrera & Reyes went into second base. The Mets got back-to-back RBI doubles from Daniel Murphy & Angel Pagan giving them a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the 4th, with two outs, Mets catcher Josh Thole hit his first HR of the season giving the Mets a 3-0 lead. Next Jose Reyes hit his league leading 15th triple of the season. 

Jose Reyes Trivia: Reyes would miss time in July with an injury & hit just one more triple on the season, but in 126 games he would still lead the NL in triples with 16. In his career he led the NL in that category four times.

Willie Harris singled bring Jose in with the third Met run. Carlos Beltran followed with a base hit, then Daniel Murphy added his second RBI hit of the game, reaching on an infield hit to third base. Rick Porcello exited the game down 5-0 as Daniel Schlereth came in. After a wild pitch he walked Angel Pagan loading the bases for Jason Bay.

Bay's time in New York was not a memorable one, in his first season he hit .259 going down with a season ending injury in July. In 2011 he returned three weeks into the season & was hitting .234 coming into this game. This was one of his biggest moments, as he hit a grand slam HR to left field making it a 9-0 Mets lead.

Mets Trivia: The HR ended a Mets drought of 299 games without a grand slam HR. The last Mets to hit a grand slam was Angel Pagan in 2009. In that time Mets pitchers served up 18 grand slam HRs to opposing players.

In the top of the 5th, Justin Turner led off with a walk, with one out Jose Reyes reached on a double with his second hit of the game. Pitcher Daniel Schlereth then walks Willie Harris loading the base for Crlos Beltran.

Just seven at bats after Jason Bay's grand slam, Beltran hit another grand slam, giving the Mets a 13-0 lead. After 299 games without one the Mets hit two grand slams in a span of seven at bats.

Beltran Grand Slam Trivia: For Beltran it was his ninth career grand slam moving him into 12th on the All-time list. He would finish his career with 11 grand slam HRs. It was also his fifth Mets career grand slam, finishing just one behind Mike Piazza's franchise record six.

Quotes- Mets GM Sandy Alderson: "baseball is an incredibly unpredictable game, which is why we are so fascinated by its possibilities & so daunted by its randomness."

For R.A. Dickey, after holding the Tigers scoreless thru four innings he would give up a two run HR to Austin Jackson & later a solo shot to Andy Dirks. 

R.A. Trivia: Dickey would win the Cy Young award the next year with twenty wins leading the league in strike outs (233) starts (33) complete games (5) & shut outs (3) while tossing back-to-back one hitters. 

In the 8th, Justin Turner added an RBI single as the Mets went on to a 14-3 victory. It was the second time in three days they had put up 14 runs, having done it in Texas in a 14-5 win earlier in the road trip.