Sean Casey slides home in the ninth inning on Reggie Taylor's single. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        ST. LOUIS — Remember that game back on May 12 when the Reds led the St. Louis Cardinals 8-0 and ended up losing 10-8? The Reds got even Sunday.

        They scored six runs in the ninth inning to beat St. Louis 12-8 and move into a tie for first place in the National League Central.

        “I think that game has been in the back of our minds since it happened,” Reds second baseman Todd Walker said. “This gives us a little justice.”

        It also gives the Reds the series, two games to one, and makes it a 5-2 road trip. They had lost four of their first five at Busch Stadium this season before winning two straight. Saturday's win was a gift from the Cardinals. Sunday, the Reds worked for 3 1/2 hours in the sweltering heat for the victory.

        “The satisfaction in this one is we grinded it out,” said Reds manager Bob Boone, whose team posted the biggest comeback victory under his reign. “Every game is important. This doesn't win the pennant and it wouldn't have lost it if we lost. But it was big because of the kind of win it was.”

        It was satisfying to Boone for another reason. He was extremely miffed that the St. Louis organist played circus music during the first inning. When the media came into Boone's office after the game, he said: “Are you guys from St. Louis? You can tell that organ grinder to shove it.”

        Grind was the operative word for the victory.

        It was a typical St. Louis summer day: 93 degrees and sticky. How hot was it? Home plate umpire Kerwin Danley collapsed from heat exhaustion after the fourth inning. The game was delayed for 12 minutes while they shifted the umps around. Danley left the game and didn't return, but he was OK after getting some rest.

Russell Branyan (33) and Reggie Taylor (19) are congratulated by Adam Dunn after scoring on Todd Walker's single in the ninth. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        So it would have been easy for the Reds to pack this one in.

        Right-hander Luis Pineda, in his second career start, couldn't get out of the first inning. Boone removed Pineda when it was 4-0 with one out in the first.

        “I saw a guy who had no command,” Boone said. “It was too big of a game to let it get away.”

        Left-hander Bruce Chen, who replaced Pineda, wasn't much better. He gave up a two-run homer to the second batter he faced — catcher Mike DeFelice — to make it 6-0.

        The Reds were toast, right? Matt Morris was pitching for the Cardinals. He won 22 games last year and has won 10 already this year. Give him a 6-0 lead and forget about it, right?

        Not Sunday. The Reds scored three runs in the second. Then, after Chen gave up another homer in the second, the Reds tacked on two more.

        That made it 7-5.

Cardinals CF Jim Edmonds takes a hit away from Adam Dunn in the first inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “What our bullpen did was huge,” Walker said. “It's tough to go out there when you're down 6-0. You don't think you have a chance to win. But they shut them down. That's why we won the game.”

        Reds right-hander John Riedling pitched three scoreless innings, and righty Scott Sullivan (5-2) followed with three innings of one-run ball.

        That let the hitters get to work. The Reds had a season-high 16 hits. Walker led the way, going 4-for-6 with four RBI. Aaron Boone was 3-for-6 with three RBI. Reggie Taylor was 3-for-5 with two RBI. Russell Branyan was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

        Morris was done after five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits. It was his shortest outing in six starts and the most runs he gave up since allowing seven to the Reds in a 7-3 loss at Busch.

        The Reds added a run in the sixth to make it 7-6. But it looked as if it might be a close-but-no-win day when the Reds' RBI leaders, Adam Dunn and Juan Encarnacion, struck out swinging with two men on later that inning.

        It certainly looked that way when the Cardinals added a run in the eighth, but that just made the ninth-inning comeback all the sweeter.

        The Reds pounded out five runs against St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen (2-1), who came in with a 1.45 ERA and left with it at 2.61.

        Encarnacion started the inning with a single. The Cards let him take second, and Casey walked. Austin Kearns then hit a ball that center fielder Jim Edmonds ran down and caught over his shoulder. Again, it looked as if fate was on St. Louis' side.

        But Branyan walked. That brought up Taylor, whose two-run triple Thursday tied the game in the ninth inning against Chicago. Taylor delivered again, lining a two-run single to center to tie it.

        “I wasn't thinking about Chicago,” Taylor said. “I think about getting a pitch to hit. He has some nasty stuff. He hung a breaking ball.”

        Walker gave the Reds the lead with a two-run single, his fourth hit of the day.

        Aaron Boone put it out of reach with a two-run homer off Gene Stechschulte, who replaced Isringhausen.

        The payback from May 12 was complete.

        “It was almost an identical game,” Dunn said. “That's why today is so nice.”

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