Detroit, MI, United States

New York manager Terry Collins thinks it's rather easy to explain his New York Mets' recent hitting tear.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland would like to find a way to stop it.

The hot-hitting New York Mets bolted out to a 4-0 lead and survived hitting heroics from Detroit Tiger slugger Miguel Cabrera for a 16-9 victory Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

It marked the third time in four games the Mets have scored 14 or more runs. They had 20 hits in the victory.

"It's all about pitch selection," Collins said. "It's all about not expanding the strike zone early in the count. Let's try to do something we can handle. Our guys have bought into that. Because of that, they've gotten better pitches to hit. They're a little more selective. Hey, make the pitcher work a little more.

"I'll bet you in four of our last five or six games, we've had the starting pitcher at 90 pitches by the fifth inning. Now all of a sudden they have to work harder. I think we get better pitches that way. It's helped our offense. The one thing we've done is try to put the ball in play. They give what the pitcher is giving them."

The Mets are 41-39. They have scored a combined 52 runs in putting together a four-game winning streak. The 52 runs over the last four games is a new club record.

The Tigers, who lost 14-3 to the Mets Tuesday night, are 43-38. The Mets also beat Texas 14-5 on Saturday. Cabrera had the 20th multiple home run game of his career for the Tigers.

The Mets continued their hot hitting with four runs in the first inning.

Jose Reyes started the first inning with a single, advanced on an error, stole third and scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Scott Hairston delivered a three-run triple.

"It was good to score runs early, especially against a team like this," Hairston said. "I was happy to contribute tonight."

The Mets increased their lead to 5-0 in the top of the third on Angel Pagan's RBI single.

After New York starter Chris Capuano retired the first eight Detroit batters, Ryan Raburn got the Tigers on the board with his seventh home run of the season the bottom of the third.

Cabrera added his 16th homer of the season in the bottom of the fourth, making it 5-2

But the Mets added three more runs in the fifth and drove Detroit starter Phil Coke from the game. Ronny Paulino had an RBI double, Jason Bay singled home a run and another scored on an error, making it 8-2.

Cabrera belted his second homer of the night and the 17th of his career with two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth. His homer traveled an estimated 445 feet over the center field fence.

Jhonny Peralta followed later in the inning with his 13th homer of the season, making it 8-6.

Daniel Murphy's two-run single the top of the seventh expanded the Mets lead to 10-6.

Andy Dirks' pinch-hit two-run homer the bottom of the seventh for Detroit made it 10-8.

In the top of the eighth, Pagan added an RBI single followed by a two-run single for Murphy. Ruben Tejada singled in the Mets' 14th run.

Raburn notched a sacrifice fly the bottom of the eighth.

Chris Capuano, 7-7, started for the Mets and allowed six runs on six hits while striking out six in five innings to take the win.

"I wasn't particularly happy with the outing overall," Capuano said. "To have that type of an outing on a day like this when our offense is rolling helps lessen the blow."

Pagan's two-run double in the top of the ninth made it 16-9. The Tiger relievers were struggling so much that Leyland brought in infielder Don Kelly to pitch.

It marked the first time since 2000 the Tigers have had a position player on the mound. He retired the only batter he face.

"It was one of those times when you try to make the best of an ugly situation," Leyland said. "This was the result of two tough pitching starts in a row for us."

Pagan and Paulino had four hits apiece.

"We have to string hits together to be an effective offense," Collins said. "We have to run the bases aggressively more at times and run from first to third base better."

 

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