Mets blast Montreal

MONTREAL — Eric Valent became the eighth player in Mets history to hit for the cycle, and Mike Cameron homered twice to lead New York to a 10-1 victory over the Montreal Expos on Thursday.

Valent went 4-for-4 with a walk and drove in three runs and scored three times in becoming the fourth player in the majors this season to hit a single, double, triple and home run in a game. He joined Milwaukee's Chad Moeller, Pittsburgh's Daryle Ward and Philadelphia's David Bell in accomplishing the feat.

Valent singled following Cameron's two-run homer off Rocky Biddle in the second, and doubled after Cameron's solo shot put the Mets up 5-0 in the third. He tied his career high for hits with a two-run homer off a speaker against Sun-Woo Kim in the fifth. Valent's RBI triple in the seventh off Roy Corcoran completed the Mets' first cycle since John Olerud did it on Sept. 11, 1997 — also against the Expos.

Al Leiter (7-3) allowed three hits and one run in six innings, improving to 6-1 in his last 10 starts. Leiter has a 2.18 ERA, and 1.00 in three starts against Montreal this season, allowing just two runs in 18 innings.

Biddle (2-5), who began the season as Montreal's closer, allowed seven hits and five runs in three innings.

MARLINS 10, PHILLIES 1: At Miami, Alex Gonzalez hit the first grand slam of his career, Dontrelle Willis pitched seven innings and the Florida Marlins swept the Philadelphia Phillies at home for the fourth time in a row.

It was the Phillies' 14th consecutive loss in Miami, including seven this year. Most of the games have been close, but this time seven consecutive Marlins scored in the third inning against Paul Abbott (1-5), capped by Gonzalez's 15th homer for an 8-0 lead.

The Marlins are 11-1 against the Phillies this season and have won 23 of the past 26 meetings.

BRAVES 3, PIRATES 2: At Pittsburgh, Rafael Furcal made up for two errors with a go-ahead single during Atlanta's two-run, ninth-inning rally against closer Jose Mesa, and the Braves came back to beat the Pirates.

The Braves won their third in the four-game series, sixth in seven games overall — and 15th in 20. They also took the season series from Pittsburgh 4-2, and are 11-4 against the Pirates the last two seasons.

CUBS 4, BREWERS 0: At Milwaukee, Carlos Zambrano gave up four hits over eight shutout innings and Sammy Sosa homered in the Cubs victory.

Zambrano (10-6) walked two and struck out eight in snapping a personal three-game losing skid. He needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning, but then allowed just two more hits.