Mets hit two slams in 11-run inning to quash Cubs

CHICAGO (AP) -- For the New York Mets, it was a grand slam of an inning.

Pedro eyes return

Martinez Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez drew closer to returning from the disabled list due to a hip injury by throwing 45 pitches in a bullpen session before Sunday's game. But he figures to return to the rotation no earlier than July 25. Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson told the New York Times Martínez probably needed to throw one more bullpen session and a simulated game to build arm strength. Complicating matters was the fact that Martinez had a bout with food poisoning, but he said that he was slowly regaining his appetite and that he did not feel as weak. "I'm getting my strength back," he said. While some Mets fans are expecting the worse, the team's chief operating officer, Jeff Wilpon, told the New York Daily News what he thinks Martinez can contribute in the second half of the season. "I expect him to be our ace," Wilpon said.

First, Cliff Floyd homered with the bases loaded. Then, Carlos Beltran did the same. After David Wright added a two-run shot, New York had 11 runs -- the most in a single inning in club history.

"It was just amazing to keep going like that. You never think you're going to score 11 runs in one inning," Floyd said Sunday night after Mets' sixth-inning outburst sent them to a 13-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

It was one of those hot summer nights at Wrigley Field where the wind is blowing out and the ball is flying over the wall.

New York sent 16 batters to the plate in the sixth and benefited from two errors on Cubs second baseman Todd Walker that led to eight of the 11 runs being unearned. The half-inning, on a muggy 95-degree night, took 41 minutes to play and saw the Cubs make 70 pitches.

"You walk up to the plate and you have to start asking questions of the umpire and to the catcher. I know Michael Barrett. 'Have you ever see anything like this?'" Floyd said. "He said, 'No, I haven't.' It's kind of nothing you can do, wind blowing out, you make pitches and we put swings on them and it happens."

The Mets' outburst marked the first time a team had two grand slams in an inning since April 23, 1999, when St. Louis' Fernando Tatis hit two in the third at Los Angeles.

"Obviously in this ballpark, anything can happen at any time," Mets manager Willie Randolph said.

"It was a total nightmare. We gave them too many outs. A team like that who can score runs, you can't give them outs," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "I've never seen two grand slams in the same inning."

New York trailed 5-0 after two innings before showing why it is the highest scoring team in the National League and the one with the best record (55-37).

Elias Says ...

The Mets erased a 5-0 deficit to defeat the Cubs 13-7 at Wrigley Field. It was the largest margin of victory in franchise history in a game in which the Mets trailed by at least five runs. No NL team had erased a five-run deficit to win a game by a margin of at least six runs since April 7, 2004, when the Braves defeated the Mets at Turner Field, 18-10, after trailing in the contest 6-0. • For more Elias Says, click here.

Floyd's grand slam was a liner to left field off Sean Marshall (5-8) that just cleared the wall and landed in the basket above the ivy.

The Mets loaded the bases the first time when Beltran reached on Walker's error, Carlos Delgado hit a sinking liner to center that Juan Pierre couldn't hold for a single and Wright blooped a base hit to right.

"I think after he [Walker] missed that ball, everything changed our way," Beltran said.

Floyd, who had a solo homer in the fifth, then delivered his sixth career slam to give the Mets a 6-5 lead. He had only seven homers all season entering the game.

"He got it up in the wind and fortunately for him it carried out," Marshall said. "It turned the game. ... It was a tough luck inning for us. They scattered some bloop hits and it was tough to watch, but that stuff happens in baseball."

New York added another run when Walker made his second error, dropping a throw from third baseman Aramis Ramirez, and pinch-hitter Endy Chavez had an RBI single off reliever Roberto Novoa.

Jose Valentin singled to load the bases, and after a runner was cut down at the plate on a fielder's choice grounder, Beltran sent the Mets' second grand slam of the inning into the seats in left-center, the fifth bases-loaded homer of his career.

After Delgado doubled, Wright hit a two-run homer to make it 13-5 and Cubs fans in the bleachers began to throw debris on the field in disgust as the grounds crew ran onto the field to clean it up.

"I was embarrassed to be out there today," Walker said. "I didn't catch either ball. I was responsible for the 11 runs in that inning. You can pin this game on me. I don't know what to say.

"It's humiliating. I wouldn't wish that feeling on anybody. You want to crawl in a hole."

Reliever Pedro Feliciano (3-2) worked a scoreless fifth to get the win.

Marshall was staked to a 5-0 lead after two innings when the Cubs drove veteran Orlando Hernandez out after 1 2/3 innings, matching his shortest stint of the season. Hernandez gave up seven hits and five runs.

Marshall ended up lasting just 5 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and seven runs -- five earned. Novoa lasted one-third of an inning, allowing five hits and six runs, none earned.

Marshall had his first career homer for the Cubs, connecting off Hernandez, and pinch-hitter Phil Nevin hit a two-run shot in the seventh off Aaron Heilman.

Pierre had four of the 15 hits for the Cubs, and Michael Barrett added RBI doubles in the first and second innings to help Chicago jump to the 5-0 lead.

Chris Woodward hit a solo homer in the fourth for the Mets' first run.

Game notes
The Mets' previous high for an inning was 10 runs against Cincinnati in 1979 and Atlanta in 2000. ... It marked the first time in club history the Mets had two grand slams in the same inning. ... It was the first time in club history the Cubs had given up two grand slams in the same inning, according to team historian Ed Hartig. ... New York, which had 14 hits, had two grand slams this season before Sunday.