Mets 10, Reds 2
CINCINNATI -- The New York Mets didn't have to win Saturday to clinch the National League East Division championship.
A Washington loss would have done the trick, but the Mets - preferring to keep matters in their own hands - decided to not wait around for a Nationals loss that might not happen.
Lucas Duda hit his first career grand slam in the first inning, giving him 10 runs batted in on three home runs over the last two games, and Curtis Granderson added a second-inning solo shot as the Mets clinched their first division title and postseason berth since 2006 with a 10-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Michael Cuddyer chipped in with a two-run double to help New York set a franchise record with its 10th consecutive road victory, breaking the record set by that 2006 team.
The Mets went into the game having clinched a tie for their sixth division championship since Major League Baseball split the National and American league into two divisions in 1969. New York also has qualified for postseason play twice as a wild-card team.
Jeurys Familia's game-ending strikeout of Jay Bruce prompted a relatively muted celebration near the pitcher's mound.
Spurred by a sizable contingent of Mets' fans among the crowd of 32,293, Matt Harvey allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 5-0 with a 2.35 ERA over his last 10 starts since a 7-2 loss at Washington on July 20. Harvey (13-7) worked around nine hits, the third time this season he's allowed that many, by allowing zero walks and striking out six Reds.
Rookie left-hander John Lamb (1-4) allowed five runs and three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in two innings in his ninth major league start as the Reds extended their losing streak to seven games.
Joey Votto singled in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings to extend his career-high streak of consecutive games reaching base to 43.
Duda, who hit a pair of three-run homers in New York's 12-5 victory Friday night, blistered a 417-foot line drive into the visitors' bullpen down the right field line for his 25th home run of the season, giving the Mets a 4-0 lead two outs into the game.
The homer was the left-handed hitting Duda's seventh of the season against southpaws and the eighth grand slam allowed by Reds pitchers this season.
Granderson also reached 25 homers with a two-out solo shot in the second.
The Reds opened the second with three straight hits, including Ivan De Jesus Jr.'s two-run double.
The Mets got those runs back on Michael Cuddyer's two-run double in the third.
Cincinnati center fielder Jason Bourgeois leaped high at the fence to rob Daniel Murphy of a home run leading off the fifth inning, but he couldn't reach David Wright's fourth homer of the season, a three-run shot in the ninth off of Burke Badenhop.
NOTES: Mets INF Juan Uribe apparently aggravated the rib cage injury he suffered last Sunday, leaving his status for post-season play in question. "He's hurting," manager Terry Collins said before Saturday's game, adding that the veteran probably won't be available on the rest of the trip, which is scheduled to conclude on Thursday in Philadelphia. Uribe, 36, is hitting .219 in 44 games with the Mets. "Hopefully, he'll return in the next few days," Collins said. "He could help us out." ... Mets RHP Jeurys Familia went into Saturday's game needing one save to tie Armando Benitez for the franchise single-season record. Benitez logged 43 in 2001. ... Reds RHP Homer Bailey has started throwing as he continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery. "He said he feels like he hasn't had surgery," manager Bryan Price said. "He feels like he's capable of throwing breaking balls and bullpens -- which he isn't allowed to do."