"Jason Bay's longball stroke returned last night. But unless he changes his pattern, he might not go deep again until July.

Bay snapped a confounding stretch of 104 at-bats without a home run and 89 at-bats without an extra-base hit, crushing a solo homer off the second deck in left field in the Mets' 7-3 loss to the A's at Citi Field. It was only his third homer this season -- one in which he has not recorded more than one home run in any calendar month.

Still, Bay almost cracked a second homer last night (it turned out to be a triple, upheld after a video review), and went 3-for-3 with a walk. In his last six games, Bay has gone 10-for-24 with four multi-hit games, raising his average from .207 to .236.

Since June 4, Bay has primarily batted sixth, and rose to the five-spot on occasion. But he could be shifted higher tonight.

"If he's going to swing, I'm going to move him up. That's why he's here," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "I don't want to jam him in the spot as he's starting to get comfortable. But [tonight] we're facing a guy [lefty Gio Gonzalez] who's really tough, and having Jason Bay in the middle of the lineup might help.""