By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Sunday's game

MILWAUKEE - Even when he pitched well and the team lost a game against the Indians two weeks ago, Danny Graves knew the payback would come some day.

"Everybody felt bad," Graves said. "But I said, "You know what? There's going to be one of those days when I give up six or seven runs in a couple innings and you guys are going to pick me up."

That's precisely what happened Sunday.

Trailing 7-1 against the Brewers by the end of the fourth inning at Miller Park, the Reds rallied and won 10-8 on a two-run homer by third baseman Aaron Boone in the 12th inning before 23,632 fans.

The victory completed a three-game sweep of the last-place Brewers and sent Cincinnati into the All-Star break riding a wave of good vibes.

"I think it would've been easy to just kind of limp through this weekend with the way things were going," Boone said. "But one of the strengths of this team is we come to play. We came and really took care of business each day. Hopefully we can build on this."

The six-run deficit, for which Graves was responsible in his 3 2/3-inning start, was the largest the Reds have overcome for a win this season.

Cincinnati finished its turbulent first half with a 43-50 record. Despite winning just seven times in its final 22 games, the Reds are 6 1/2 games behind first-place Houston in the National League Central.

"We have a losing record, but we're still there and still pretty close," Graves said. "With this division still up for grabs, I think finishing the first half strong is really going to add some momentum going into the second half."

It certainly gives Boone, who will be the Reds' lone representative at the All-Star game, a boost.

Hitless in five at-bats going into the 12th inning, Boone hit a tailing fastball from Brewers' reliever Leo Estrella into the left-field seats for the game winner.

"That's awesome," he said. "That's a good way to finish a half. I was just kind of limping in."

It was Boone's first homer since June 10 - a span of 28 games and 114 at-bats.

"I knew I'd hit another homer at some point this year," he said. "I figured I'd run into something at some point."

The Reds began their comeback by scoring three runs in the fifth to make it 7-4. They pulled to within two by the eighth inning and took a 8-7 lead with three runs in the top of the ninth.

Shortstop Barry Larkin, right fielder Jose Guillen and first baseman Sean Casey bunched three run-scoring singles together.

Casey finished 4-for-5 with 4 RBI.

The Brewers tied it in the ninth on an RBI-single by first baseman Richie Sexson off Reds reliever Scott Williamson.

The run was the only earned run allowed by six Reds relievers.

Sunday's game was a microcosm of a first half where little went smoothly.

"The statistics have hurt us," manager Bob Boone said before the game. "We're last in fielding. We're last in pitching . . . We're second from the bottom in hitting. We have to move up."

Injuries to outfielder Austin Kearns, catcher Jason LaRue and relief pitchers Gabe White and Kent Mercker put the team at a noticeable disadvantage..

The areas that most need improvement in the second half, however, are pitching and defense.

Reds' starters went a combined 18-42 with a 6.21 ERA in the first half, backed by a defense that had a major-league worst .975 fielding percentage through Saturday.

"I'd be very surprised if that's all we get from the starters after the All-Star break," Bob Boone said. "It should look up, because I don't think we're as bad as the statistics indicate."

For many in the Reds clubhouse, the All-Star break is a chance to get away from the game.

But Sunday was a game to remember.

"In this game, people always remember the last thing you do," Graves said. "We're going to remember these last three games.

"It's going to carry over. We know that we're good. We believe in ourselves that we're good despite what other people think. We know we have the talent here to win. And I'm telling you, this is probably the biggest win for us the whole first half."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	3	2	1	0	3	0	.348
Larkin ss	6	2	2	1	0	2	.281
JGuillen rf-cf	6	2	2	2	0	1	.337
Casey 1b	5	2	4	4	1	0	.303
ABoone 3b	6	1	1	3	0	1	.261
Dunn lf-rf	5	0	0	0	1	0	.202
Stinnett c	6	0	1	0	0	3	.256
Taylor cf	5	0	0	0	0	1	.216
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Graves p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.128
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Olmedo ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.289
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JCastro ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.242
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Griffey Jr. ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.245
Dempster pr	0	1	0	0	0	0	.036
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Branyan lf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.229
Totals	46	10	11	10	6	9

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Podsednik cf	6	2	2	0	0	1	.320
KGinter 2b	6	1	1	2	0	2	.265
BClark lf-rf	6	2	2	2	0	2	.271
Sexson 1b	6	0	2	2	0	0	.263
Vander Wal rf	3	1	1	0	0	0	.283
Jenkins lf	2	0	0	0	1	1	.275
Helms 3b	3	1	2	1	1	0	.256
Clayton ss	2	0	0	0	0	2	.210
EddPerez c	6	0	1	0	0	1	.311
Cruz ss-3b	5	0	0	0	0	2	.086
Kinney p	2	1	1	0	0	0	.031
Rusch p	0	0	0	0	1	0	.250
Kolb p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
EYoung ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.251
DeJean p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
de los Santos p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Kieschnick ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.333
Estrella p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	48	8	12	7	4	11

Cincinnati	000	130	013	002	-10	11	1
Milwaukee	113	200	001	000	-8	12	1

E-ABoone (11), EddPerez (4). LOB-Cincinnati 6, Milwaukee 8. 2B-BClark (7), Sexson (11), Vander Wal (18), EddPerez (7), Kinney (1). HR-ABoone (16), off Estrella; Casey (10), off Kinney; KGinter (5), off Graves; JGuillen (18), off Kinney; BClark (2), off Graves; Helms (16), off Graves. RBIs-Larkin (15), JGuillen 2 (49), Casey 4 (48), ABoone 3 (56), KGinter 2 (19), BClark 2 (23), Sexson 2 (70), Helms (51). SB-DJimenez 2 (2), Larkin (2), Podsednik (20). GIDP-Taylor.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 3 (Larkin, Casey, Taylor); Milwaukee 4 (Vander Wal, Clayton, EYoung 2).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves	3 2/3	9	7	6	0	3	72	5.51
Sullivan	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	3.86
Reith	2	0	0	0	1	0	27	3.58
Riedling	1 1/3	1	0	0	1	2	26	6.18
Reitsma	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	7	4.56
Williamson BS, 5	1 2/3	2	1	1	2	4	40	3.38
Heredia W, 5-0	2 1/3	0	0	0	0	2	31	3.00

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Kinney	5	4	4	4	4	6	95	4.72
Rusch H, 1	2	1	0	0	0	0	22	7.90
Kolb H, 3	1	2	1	1	0	1	14	3.46
DeJean BS, 7	1	2	3	3	2	0	27	5.44
de los Santos	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	3.60
Estrella L, 2-2	2	2	2	2	0	1	28	2.65

Inherited runners-scored-Heredia 1-0, Reitsma 2-0.

IBB-off Williamson (Jenkins) 1. WP-Williamson, Kinney.

T-3:40. A-23,632 (41,900).