Cabrera, Reyes help Mets rout Phils

NEW YORK >> The Mets left Citi Field smiling after a record-setting rout. They hope to return home for more games this year.

In the largest shutout victory in team history, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a grand slam, Jose Reyes drove in four runs and New York overwhelmed the Philadelphia Phillies 17-0 Sunday to maintain the NL wild-card lead.

On an afternoon when batters circled the bases like the cartoon Gashouse Gorillas, Reyes batted four straight times with the bases loaded, and Cabrera hit his 23rd home run this season.

Curtis Granderson reached 30 home runs for the first time since 2012, and rookie Robert Gsellman (3-2) allowed three hits over seven innings.

New York’s previous high for runs in a shutout was 14, against the Chicago Cubs in 1965 and Cincinnati in 1998. New York scored 25 unanswered runs after falling behind 10-0 in the fourth inning Saturday night.

Wearing 1986 commemorative uniforms for perhaps the last time this year, New York began the day tied with San Francisco for the NL’s two wild cards, a half-game ahead of St. Louis.

Hoping for their first consecutive postseason appearances since 1999-2000, the Mets close with three games each at Miami and Philadelphia after finishing 44-37 at home.

Fans chanted “We want playoffs!” in the final inning of the three-hitter.

Gsellman, a 26-yearold right-hander making his sixth big league start, struck out a career-best eight and walked two, leaving to a standing ovation. He also reached on a bunt single in the third for his first major league hit; Philadelphia’s defense was puzzling, given that Gsellman has a torn left rotator cuff and can’t swing away.

In a matchup of rookie starters, James Loney hit a run-scoring double-play grounder in the second off Jake Thompson (3-6), and Granderson led off the fourth by driving an 0-2 changeup into the bullpens in right center. Granderson has just 56 RBIs despite getting 30 homers for the fourth time — with 10 in his last 23 games.

Reyes drew a pair of bases-loaded walks and hit a two-run double.

Reyes’ first walk made it 3-0 later in the inning, and the Mets doubled the lead in the fifth after slumping Jay Bruce singled high off the wall in left-center for his second hit but was held to a single because Yoenis Cespedes advanced only from second to third.

T.J. Rivera singled in a run off Phil Klein, who forced in a run by hitting Rene Rivera with a pitch with the bases loaded. Colton Murray threw a runscoring wild pitch.