By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

The Reds, who were already ridiculous in the walk-off victory category, took it to the sublime level Saturday night.

Trailing by three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jason LaRue hit a three-run home run to tie it, and Sean Casey singled home Rainer Olmedo to win it.

"That was the Mount Everest of comebacks right there," said Casey.

The Reds beat Toronto 9-8 before 30,158 beside-themselves fans at Great American Ball Park, and now, the American League knows what the hubbub along the Ohio is all about. The Yankees found out Tuesday night. The Blue Jays found out Saturday night.

It was the Reds' eighth walkoff victory. That's improbable enough, but what makes it otherworldly is this: Every one of the walk-off at-bats has been by a different guy.

Eight walkoffs, eight different guys in the middle of "The Bounce," the Reds' home-plate dance.

The Reds had trailed 8-3 going into the bottom of the seventh. Jose Guillen singled home two runs with two outs after LaRue struck out with the bases loaded.

"You persevere," LaRue said. "There are going to be times you strike out. You try to put that at-bat behind you and you hope for one more."

The Reds went into the ninth down 8-5 but tied it on LaRue's three-run homer off Toronto reliever Cliff Politte.

That shot had been set up by a leadoff single from Aaron Boone, and a walk to Russell Branyan.

Kelly Stinnett struck out, but Olmedo singled and Dunn walked. Up came Casey.

"I was trying not to think about 'The Bounce,' " Casey said. "I was thinking, 'Hey, if I have a good approach here, hopefully I'll be able to bounce.' "

Manager Bob Boone thought he had seen it all.

"There's always a good feeling - we never feel like we're out of it," he said. "Sometimes you don't get it. In the long run, for the future of this ballclub, having that feeling is not good for my stomach."

It was the Reds' 16th come-from-behind victory.

Ryan Dempster pitched well until he loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning.

Chris Reitsma pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth to set up the final drama.

"That keeps us in the game," Casey said. "Now LaRue has the chance to hit the home run. Without Reitsma, we don't win the game."

Up until the ninth, it looked like a bad night for the Reds.

Like the needle that was stuck in his neck two weeks ago to relieve the inflamed nerve off his spine, Dempster had to reach down.

Unlike the needle, Dempster didn't quite get where he needed to be. But he had pitched well until the end of the sixth - the game was tied at 3 - when he gave up consecutive doubles to leave trailing 7-3.

Toronto	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Johnson rf	5	0	0	0	0	0	.258
Catalanotto lf	4	2	1	0	1	1	.332
Wells cf	5	2	3	1	0	0	.291
CDelgado 1b	3	2	1	2	2	0	.323
TWilson c	3	0	0	1	0	3	.297
Lopez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Werth ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.222
Berg 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.284
OHudson 2b	5	0	0	0	0	3	.288
Politte p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Clark 3b	3	1	2	0	1	0	.500
Bordick ss	4	1	1	3	0	0	.265
DDavis p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
a-JPhelps ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.266
Tam p	1	0	1	1	0	0	1.000
TreMiller p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sturtze p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
GMyers c	0	0	0	0	1	0	.360
Totals	36	8	10	8	5	9

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Dunn lf	3	1	1	1	3	1	.215
Casey 1b	6	1	2	1	0	0	.297
Griffey Jr. cf	2	1	1	0	1	0	.291
Kearns rf	4	0	1	1	1	0	.282
ABoone ss	5	2	2	0	0	1	.262
Branyan 3b	2	2	1	1	3	0	.167
LaRue c	5	1	1	3	0	2	.267
JCastro 2b	3	0	2	0	0	1	.273
JGuillen ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	.338
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Stinnett ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.281
Dempster p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.056
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.235
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Olmedo ph-2b	2	1	1	0	0	0	.261
Totals	36	9	14	9	8	7

Toronto	200	005	100	-8	10	1
Cincinnati	002	010	204	-9	14	0

One out when winning run scored.

E-CDelgado (6). LOB-Toronto 7, Cincinnati 13. 2B-Catalanotto (22), Wells (23), Bordick (8), Tam (1), Casey (9), JCastro (5), Taylor (1). HR-LaRue (8), off Politte; Wells (14), off GWhite; Branyan (1), off Tam; Dunn (20), off DDavis; CDelgado (19), off Dempster. RBIs-Wells (59), CDelgado 2 (66), TWilson (18), Bordick 3 (22), Tam (1), Dunn (43), Casey (29), Kearns (52), Branyan (3), LaRue 3 (21), JGuillen 2 (30). SB-Kearns (3), ABoone (9). S-Griffey Jr., Dempster. SF-TWilson. GIDP-Casey.

Runners left in scoring position-Toronto 4 (Johnson 3, OHudson); Cincinnati 6 (Casey, Griffey Jr., ABoone, LaRue, Dempster, Olmedo).

Runners moved up-Wells, Bordick.

DP-Toronto 1 (Bordick and CDelgado).

Toronto	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
DDavis	4	5	2	2	5	1	92	5.45
Tam	1 1/3	2	1	1	0	3	21	6.06
TreMiller	2/3	0	1	1	0	0	9	5.14
Sturtze	2/3	1	1	1	1	1	19	5.56
Lopez H, 11	1 1/3	2	0	0	0	1	14	3.73
Politte L, 1-4	BS, 4 1/3	4	4	4	2	1	32	6.23

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dempster	5 2/3	7	7	7	3	5	115	7.96
Sullivan	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	3	4.31
GWhite	1	1	1	1	0	2	16	2.45
Reitsma W, 5-2	2	2	0	0	2	2	35	6.00

TreMiller pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Lopez 3-2, TreMiller 1-0, Sturtze 1-0, Sullivan 1-0.

IBB-off Reitsma (CDelgado) 1, off Reitsma (GMyers) 1. HBP-by TreMiller (Griffey Jr.). WP-DDavis.

Umpires-Home, Tim McClelland; First, Tony Randazzo; Second, Ted Barrett; Third, Lance Barksdale.

T-3:26. A-30,158 (42,263).