By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MIAMI - Where do you start? The Reds and Florida Marlins packed a week's worth of twists and turns and hits and misses into one three-hour and three-minute game Monday at Pro Player Stadium.

Ken Griffey Jr. salutes the crowd after hitting a home run in the seventh inning. (AP photo)

When it was over the Reds were 9-7 victors, and they and the Marlins were tied for the best record in the National League at 30-21.

"What a game," Barry Larkin said. "We were on an emotional roller coaster out there."

And what a ride it was.

"It's a good win for us," reliever Todd Jones said. "It's not so much a bad loss for them, because we kept picking away at the lead."

The Reds had to. They trailed 5-0 to a pitcher (Tommy Phelps) who was 2-0 with an 0.59 ERA against them and who had one-hit them a week ago.

But they came back to take a 6-5 lead on four homers - two by Sean Casey, one each from Larkin and Wily Mo Pena.

Casey's first homer - a three-run shot in the third - turned the game.

"That was a huge, huge, huge homer," Larkin said. "It shifted the momentum. It got us off the mat."

Sean Casey, right, receives high-fives from teammates Ryan Freel, left, and Todd Van Poppel after Casey hit a three-run home run scoring them both in the third inning. (AP photo)

The Reds, however, quickly proceeded to blow that lead and fall behind 7-6, thanks to John Riedling's bout with wildness and catcher Jason LaRue's two throwing errors.

But they came back to take a 9-7 lead on Ken Griffey Jr.'s three-run homer in the seventh.

It wasn't just any homer. It was the 494th of Griffey's career, pushing him past Lou Gehrig into sole possession of 20th place on the all-time list.

"It's a thrill to be mentioned with one of the all-time great players in the game," Griffey said. "I was just hoping to get a hit and get us the lead."

The five homers is a season-high for the Reds and a Pro Player Stadium record for visitors.

Thanks to more wildness from Riedling, the drama wasn't over. But Jones got out of a base-loaded no-out jam in the seventh and left runners at first and second in the eighth.

Danny Graves went 1-2-3 in the ninth for his 24th save.

The Reds have won their last eight games against first-place teams.

This started like it was going to be a long day for the Reds.

FEEL THE POWER

The Reds put on their most powerful display of the season Monday: • Their five home runs were the most in a game this season. They hit four home runs against the Cubs April 16. • Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 494th homer, breaking a tie with Lou Gehrig for 20th place on the all-time list. • The homer was Griffey's 10th in May, most in the majors. He drove in 29 runs in the month. • Barry Larkin and Sean Casey hit back-to-back homers in the fifth, the Reds' first back-to-backers of the season. • Casey had his second two-homer game of the season and sixth of his career. He has nine homers after hitting only 14 in 2003. • The Reds improved to 20-9 in games in which they have hit at least one homer.

Starter Todd Van Poppel gave up four runs on five hits, including three doubles, in the first inning. "I just couldn't locate my fastball," Van Poppel said.

To his credit, Van Poppel settled down nicely. He gave up another run in the second but shut the Marlins down in the third, fourth and fifth. That was key because the middle relief corps pitched seven innings Sunday.

That gave the Reds a chance to come back.

Casey cut the Marlins' lead to 5-3 with a three-run shot in the third - his eighth of the year.

An inning later, Pena made it a one-run game with the granddaddy of the five home runs. Pena's fourth of the year and second in two days landed seven rows into the seats that sit 30 feet above the 434-foot mark in left center.

The Reds took the lead in the fifth on back-to-back shots from Larkin and Casey. It was the first time the Reds have gone back-to-back this year.

Casey's average is up to .394.

The Reds had a 6-5 lead. Miley went with his best to try to keep it.

Riedling came on to pitch the sixth. One out into the inning, he walked Luis Castillo. Castillo broke to steal second with Juan Pierre at the plate. Jason LaRue came up firing. Trouble was no one was covering second, and Castillo ended up at third. Riedling ended up walking Pierre. Then Pierre broke for second with Mike Lowell at the plate. This time LaRue's throw short-hopped D'Angelo Jimenez. Castillo scored and Pierre ended up at third. Lowell singled Pierre in to give the Marlins a 7-6 lead.

The Marlins' lead lasted one inning. Larkin singled with one out in the seventh and Casey followed with a four-pitch walk.

Griffey took a strike and then sent one deep into the right-field seats to make it a 9-7 game.

Wondering if Griffey was ever going to be Griffey again? He was in May. He had a major-league leading 10 home runs to go with 29 RBI.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel lf-rf	4	1	0	0	1	0	.248
Larkin ss	5	2	3	1	0	0	.293
Casey 1b	4	3	2	4	1	0	.394
Griffey Jr. cf	5	1	2	3	0	1	.243
DJimenez 2b	5	0	1	0	0	0	.239
WPena rf	4	1	2	1	0	1	.264
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JCastro 3b	1	0	0	0	0	1	.298
Hummel 3b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.188
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	1	1	.188
Van Poppel p	1	1	0	0	1	0	.100
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.220
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dunn lf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.247
Totals	37	9	10	9	4	4

Florida	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
LCastillo 2b	4	2	3	0	1	0	.276
Pierre cf	4	3	3	0	1	0	.327
Lowell 3b	5	1	2	3	0	0	.346
Cabrera rf	5	0	0	0	0	1	.289
Conine lf	4	1	4	1	1	0	.286
Choi 1b	4	0	1	0	1	1	.254
AGonzalez ss	4	0	1	1	0	0	.221
RCastro c	4	0	0	0	1	1	.135
Phelps p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Borland p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sutton ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Wayne p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
LHarris ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.233
Bump p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Perisho p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Easley ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.295
Totals	39	7	14	5	5	6

Cincinnati	003	120	300	-9	10	3
Florida	410	002	000	-7	14	0

E-Hummel (1), LaRue 2 (5). LOB-Cincinnati 5, Florida 11. 2B-Pierre 2 (8), Lowell (17), Conine 2 (11). 3B-DJimenez (2). HR-Griffey Jr. (13), off Wayne; Larkin (3), off Phelps; WPena (4), off Phelps; Casey 2 (9), off Phelps 2. RBIs-Larkin (19), Casey 4 (40), Griffey Jr. 3 (42), WPena (8), Lowell 3 (34), Conine (17), AGonzalez (17). SB-LCastillo (8), Pierre (15). SF-AGonzalez. GIDP-Lowell, Cabrera.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 1 (Hummel); Florida 7 (LCastillo 2, Cabrera 2, Choi, RCastro, Phelps).

Runners moved up-AGonzalez.

DP-Cincinnati 2 (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey), (Hummel, DJimenez and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Van Poppel	5	10	5	5	1	2	96	4.31
Riedling W, 4-0 BS, 2	1	1	2	1	4	1	36	1.67
TJones H, 15	2	3	0	0	0	2	27	4.30
Graves S, 24	1	0	0	0	0	1	9	2.70

Florida	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Phelps	5	6	6	6	2	2	92	3.67
Borland	1	0	0	0	1	0	13	4.22
Wayne L, 3-2, BS 2	1	3	3	3	1	1	28	5.13
Bump	1	1	0	0	0	0	10	5.16
Perisho	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	1.62

Riedling pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Bump pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

IBB-off Van Poppel (RCastro) 1. WP-Van Poppel. PB-LaRue. Balk-Van Poppel.

T-3:03. A-28,364 (36,331).