Despite his history-making grand slams, Boston’s Bill Mueller refuses to rest on his laurels.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Bill Mueller is known for average, not power.

The Boston Red Sox never expected he would become the first player to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in the same game.

“That’s pretty good production for an eighth-place hitter,” Red Sox manager Grady Little said Wednesday, a day after Mueller had three homers and nine RBIs in a 14-7 win at Texas. “He’s doing a little bit more in extra-base numbers than we expected, but we certainly like it.”

The third baseman had just 10 homers going into Tuesday’s game. He raised his average to a team-high .330, second in the AL to Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, and has 54 RBIs – five short of his career best.

Not even the greatest switch-hitters in baseball had such a night. Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray aren’t even among the 11 other players who have hit two slams in a game.

“It’s over and done with and I’m ready to move on,” Mueller said Wednesday. “It’s something I did. I’m very fortunate that I did something that nobody else did.”

Mueller, batting left-handed, hit a solo homer in the third against R.A. Dickey. Batting right-handed, he hit his first slam off Aaron Fultz in the seventh. An inning later, he connected from the left side against Jay Powell.

Despite the power surge, Mueller doesn’t expected to be confused with being a slugger.

“I doubt that. I’m very realistic on my ability and my physical strength,” he said.

He is batting .368 (35-for-95) over his last 27 games with eight doubles, three triples, nine homers and 27 RBIs.

“I’m not analyzing or looking at my numbers,” he said. “I keep it simple and try to execute one night at a time.”

Mueller signed a two-year contract with Boston during the offseason after spending all or part of the last seven seasons with San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs. He went into this season as a .286 career hitter.

He was hitting .327 from the right side with seven homers. and .332 from the left side with six homers.

“We like what he’s been doing. You need to get to the stat sheet to see the whole story,” Little said. “He’s been consistent both ways. He’s hitting on all cylinders. It doesn’t matter which way he’s hitting.”

On July 4, Mueller homered twice against New York at Yankee Stadium – also from both sides of the plate.

Mueller, who didn’t save anything from his two-homer night at Yankee Stadium, got the lineup card and the scorecard from Tuesday night’s game. But that’s enough for him.

“My wife would probably be pretty mad if I didn’t bring something home to decorate the basement,” he said. “I’m not a big memorabilia guy or hang a lot of stuff up, not a lot of autographs or anything. The night I hit the two home runs at Yankee Stadium, I didn’t even get the lineup card, I forgot. I learned from that experience.”

AP-ES-07-30-03 1945EDT