By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

All the Reds needed was to get back to Great American Ball Park and get the captain back in the lineup.

Barry Larkin's RBI single lifted the Reds to a 5-4, walk-off, 11-inning victory over the Texas Rangers before a near sellout of 36,501 Tuesday night at GABP, snapping a seven-game losing streak.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's game

"It's always nice to get the captain back," said Ken Griffey Jr., who went 2-for-4 but did not homer. "He's the guy everyone looks up to. He's the guy the young guys come to."

Larkin, who had missed five games with a strained abdominal muscle, also showed he can come up with the big hit when the club desperately needs a lift.

That was the case in the 11th. The situation was this: One out, bases loaded. The Rangers brought center fielder Eric Young in to play between the shortstop and second baseman Alfonzo Soriano. Doug Brocail was pitching.

"I knew Brocail wouldn't give in and give me something up that I could hit for a sacrifice fly," Larkin said. "I was looking for something I could hit hard - and hopefully not at someone. I hit it, and it was mass confusion."

Young seemed to distract Soriano. The ball got through, and the Reds had won.

"Nice," Griffey said. "To come home and pull one out like this is nice."

The Reds did pull it out. They trailed 4-2 going into the eighth. From there a lot of people contributed to the cause:

• The Reds scored one in the eighth when Jermaine Clark singled and eventually scored on Sean Casey's RBI groundout.

• The Reds tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on Adam Dunn's leadoff double and Jason LaRue's RBI single. But they couldn't get LaRue in, sending the game into extra innings.

(The Reds nearly won it in the 10th. Griffey was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Dunn's single to right.)

LaRue, 3-for-4 on the night, led off the 11th with a single to left. Tim Hummel sacrificed him to second. Clark followed and was hit by a pitch. Ryan Freel singled to right, and LaRue was wisely held at third.

The Rangers played five infielders, all drawn in, and no center fielder against Larkin.

"It was weird," Larkin said.

"It came close to working," Reds manager Miley said. "They got the groundball they needed. We got a good hop."

When Larkin's shot went through, the Reds were as relieved as happy.

"We struggled on the road," Miley said. "We did the right thing with Barry to get him back as quick as we could. It shows how much he means to this club."

The 9,255 walkups pushed the crowd to just short of a sellout. (There were 3,000 straight-A students, as well.)

They didn't get what they were there to see: Griffey's quest for 500 remained one short. But they roared and stood every time he came to bat.

"It was like that when I first came here," Griffey said. "It's greatly appreciated."

Jung Keun Bong made his second start for the Reds. His numbers weren't great. He went six innings, allowing four runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out six.

But he put up six innings on a night when anything less might have had the Reds waving the white flag in the bullpen.

Bong, the left-hander obtained in the Chris Reitsma trade, threw 105 pitches. Except for the two home runs he gave up in the fifth, he was very good.

The Reds took the lead in the first. Larkin doubled to left-center. After a Sean Casey flyout, Griffey came to the plate. That brought the fans to their feet.

They, of course, wanted to see No. 500. What they got instead -- an RBI double to right - pleased them nonetheless. Wily Mo Pena followed with a single up the middle to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

The Rangers took a 4-2 lead in the fifth.

Bong pitched a scoreless sixth and then gave way to Mike Matthews (two innings), Danny Graves (two innings) and Todd Jones (one inning), who paved the way for the comeback.

"It's been frustrating," Larkin said. "To get a win the way we did is big."

Reds 5, Rangers 4, 11 innings

Texas	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
EYoung cf-lf-cf	3	1	2	0	2	0	.319
MYoung ss	5	0	0	0	0	1	.326
ASoriano 2b	5	1	2	3	0	2	.294
Teixeira 1b-rf	4	0	0	0	1	0	.235
Perry 3b	4	1	1	1	0	1	.253
Almanzar p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
BShouse p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Conti cf	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Ramirez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Fullmer 1b	0	0	0	0	0	0	.231
Mench lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.267
FCordero p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Dellucci lf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.280
Barajas c	5	0	1	0	0	0	.278
Matthews rf	3	0	0	0	2	1	.277
Brocail p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Rogers p	3	1	0	0	0	2	.000
Francisco p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Blalock 3b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.290
Totals	40	4	6	4	5	9

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	4	0	1	0	2	1	.245
Larkin ss	5	1	2	1	0	0	.295
Casey 1b	5	0	0	1	0	0	.363
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	2	1	1	1	.262
WPena rf	3	0	1	1	0	1	.272
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larson ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.227
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.254
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
FLopez ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.171
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Dunn lf	5	1	3	0	0	1	.267
LaRue c	4	1	3	1	0	0	.237
Hummel 3b	3	0	1	0	0	1	.222
Bong p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
JClark rf	2	1	1	0	0	1	.167
Totals	39	5	14	5	3	7

Texas	000	040	000	00	-4	6	0
Cincinnati	200	000	011	01	-5	14	1

One out when winning run scored.

E-Hummel (3). LOB-Texas 8, Cincinnati 11. 2B-EYoung (6), Larkin (9), Griffey Jr. (15), Dunn (11), Hummel (3). HR-Perry (5), off Bong; ASoriano (9), off Bong. RBIs-ASoriano 3 (37), Perry (16), Larkin (24), Casey (48), Griffey Jr. (50), WPena (15), LaRue (20). SB-Matthews (1). S-Larkin, Hummel 2. GIDP-Rogers.

Runners left in scoring position-Texas 3 (MYoung, Mench 2); Cincinnati 3 (Freel, Larkin, JaCruz).

Runners moved up-Casey, FLopez.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (Bong, Larkin and Freel).

Texas	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Rogers	6	6	2	2	0	5	94	3.71
Francisco H, 2	1	0	0	0	0	1	12	3.38
Almanzar H, 9	1/3	1	1	1	1	0	9	2.90
BShouse H, 3	1/3	0	0	0	1	0	9	2.00
FCordero BS, 1	1 1/3	2	1	1	1	1	26	2.08
Ramirez L, 3-3	1 1/3	3	1	1	0	0	26	4.88
Brocail	0	2	0	0	0	0	8	14.14

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Bong	6	5	4	4	4	6	105	7.71
MMatthews	2	0	0	0	0	1	24	3.29
Graves	2	1	0	0	0	2	22	3.38
TJones W, 5-1	1	0	0	0	1	0	20	3.69

Brocail pitched to 2 batters in the 11th.

Inherited runners-scored-BShouse 2-1, FCordero 2-0, Brocail 2-1.

IBB-off BShouse (Griffey Jr.) 1. HBP-by Ramirez (JClark), by Rogers (LaRue). WP-Bong.

Umpires-Home, Mike Winters; First, Hunter Wendelstedt; Second, Tim Timmons; Third, Bruce Froemming.

T-3:45. A-36,501 (42,271).