NEW YORK (Interstat) — Brady House capped a seven-run fourth inning with his first career grand slam and the Washington Nationals routed the reeling New York Mets 14-2 on a rainy Wednesday night at Citi Field.

Curtis Mead homered late and finished with four hits in five at-bats, driving in two runs and scoring four times to lead a 15-hit Washington attack. James Wood drove in three runs and scored three more. CJ Abrams added three hits and two RBIs for the Nationals, who set a season high for runs and improved to 14-17.

The Mets, losers of eight of their last nine, dropped to 10-20. Juan Soto homered for New York and had three hits, but the Mets managed only 10 hits overall and left nine runners on base.

Washington wasted little time getting on the board. In the top of the first inning, James Wood singled, Curtis Mead singled and after a strikeout, CJ Abrams singled to right field to score Wood. Jacob Young then grounded out to first base, scoring Mead and giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

Mets starter David Peterson held Washington scoreless over the next two innings, and his offense got him a run in the bottom of the third when Soto crushed a solo home run to left-center field, his third of the season, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

The game turned decisively in the fourth. After CJ Abrams struck out to open the inning, Jacob Young walked and Daylen Lile singled. Joey Wiemer followed with a ground-ball single that scored Young. Nasim Nuñez walked to load the bases, and after Keibert Ruiz struck out, James Wood walked to force in Lile. Curtis Mead was then hit by a pitch, scoring Wiemer and keeping the bases loaded. House crushed the first pitch he saw from Peterson deep to left-center field for a grand slam, his fourth home run of the season, pushing the lead to 8-1. Abrams then doubled and Young struck out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

The Nationals added a run in the sixth. Mead doubled, House walked and Abrams singled to center, scoring Mead. New York got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Bo Bichette singled, Soto singled and MJ Melendez singled to center, scoring Bichette to make it 9-2. But the Mets could not sustain any rally against Washington starter Cade Cavalli.

Cavalli worked six innings, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out 10. He walked two and threw 98 pitches. The right-hander earned his first win of the season against one loss.

Washington put the game out of reach in the seventh. Joey Wiemer doubled, Nasim Nuñez walked and James Wood doubled to left-center, scoring both runners. Mead singled to put runners at the corners, and after a strikeout and a walk, Jacob Young singled in Wood to make it 12-2. The Nationals tacked on another run in the ninth when Mead led off with a solo home run to center field, his fourth of the year.

Mets reliever Carl Edwards Jr. turned in a bright spot, allowing one earned run over 2 2/3 innings while striking out six. But Peterson was tagged for nine runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and fell to 0-4.

The Nationals bullpen closed out the game with scoreless relief from PJ Poulin, Paxton Schultz and Cionel Pérez. Poulin struck out one in a perfect seventh, Schultz allowed two hits but no runs in the eighth, and Pérez worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Washington’s 14 runs were its most in a game since a 13-2 win at Philadelphia on March 30. The Nationals rebounded from an 8-0 loss in Tuesday’s series opener and improved to 11-7 on the road. The Mets have lost six of their last seven at home.

Curt Mead entered the game in a 1-for-11 slump over his previous four contests, but snapped out of it with a 4-for-5 night that included a double and the solo homer. James Wood went 2-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and three runs. CJ Abrams reached base four times with three hits and a walk.

For the Mets, Soto’s three-hit game was his third multi-hit outing in his last six contests. Brett Baty reached base twice with a single and a walk. Bo Bichette also had two hits.

The game lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 32,624.

The two teams wrap up their two-game series Thursday afternoon before Washington returns home to host Milwaukee and the Mets travel to Los Angeles to face the Angels.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Washington Nationals 4, New York Mets 2. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Mets a 60.50 percent probability to win. New York had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 16 went under the over/under line of 7.5.