Mets score 10 runs in fourth to back Jacob deGrom

The skies opened up above Citi Field on Saturday night, and soon enough, the hits began falling like the raindrops. The drought was over.

Finally, the Mets could exhale.

"Tonight was a good night for us to get our spirits back," manager Terry Collins said after the Mets scored 10 runs in the fourth inning and pounded the Brewers, 14-1.

During a season-worst five-game losing streak, the Mets' bats went cold and their confidence waned. But they sent 15 men to the plate in the fourth and unleashed a week's worth of frustration in 32 cathartic minutes.

The 10-run outburst featured a grand slam by embattled shortstop Wilmer Flores, two hits each by pitcher Jacob deGrom and Michael Cuddyer, and nine hits from a lineup that had been blanked the night before.

"Everything came together," said deGrom, who bounced back from a rough outing to allow one run in six innings.

DeGrom (4-4, 3.21), the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, had worked with pitching coach Dan Warthen to identify flaws in his mechanics. It was a simple issue. The righthander was bringing his arm too far back in his delivery, which wrecked his timing.

He showed improvement against the Brewers, striking out six and walking one. He also got some needed help in the field. Before it became a rout, first baseman Lucas Duda and third baseman Eric Campbell made run-saving plays.

Even the weather cooperated. After the Mets' fourth-inning explosion, the rain let up just enough to eliminate the threat of a stoppage, perhaps the only thing that might have slowed the onslaught.

In the cleansing mist, the Mets got homers from Kevin Plawecki and Curtis Granderson, who had three hits. The 14 runs equaled a Citi Field record set against the Tigers in 2010.

"It was fun," Plawecki said. "We needed it. We definitely needed it."

From the practical to the superstitious, the Mets had tried nearly everything to reverse their fortunes.

On Friday night, Collins sent third-base coach Tim Teufel out to present the lineup card, hoping that this simple act might change the vibe. What followed was a critical error by Flores, an injury to second baseman Dilson Herrera and a 7-0 loss.

So Collins responded with another change, this one centered on his lineup.

Despite entering the game with a team-high five homers, Flores batted in the ninth spot behind deGrom, an above-average hitter for a pitcher. As the rain fell in the fourth, Collins' decision paid dividends.

Brewers shortstop Luis Sardinas sailed a throw to the plate that gave the Mets a run. With one out, deGrom singled to load the bases, the second time that Collins was rewarded for letting the pitcher swing away in a sacrifice situation.

Flores followed by hammering the Mets' first grand slam since last June. Later in the inning, Cuddyer and Daniel Murphy ripped consecutive two-run doubles and Campbell added an RBI single. All 10 runs scored before the Brewers could record the second out of the inning.

The hits kept on coming -- 16 in all -- sending Brewers starter Matt Garza scurrying for cover. He allowed 10 runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

In the dugout, Collins heard multiple versions of the same refrain: "Where has that been?"

The Mets had failed to score more than three runs in 13 of their previous 17 games. In their previous five games, they totaled 10 runs. But in one inning, the Mets washed away a week's worth of bitterness. The drought gave way to a downpour.

DeGrom finished with a career-high three hits. A pair of them came in the fourth, making deGrom the first pitcher since the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright in 2013 to collect two hits in an inning.

It was only the fourth time in franchise history -- and the first since 2006 -- that the Mets posted a double-digit frame.

"The line was moving, that's what happened," Flores said. "We finally woke up."