By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Sean Casey loves the word "huge." Thursday was a four-huge day.

In the Casey lexicon, the Reds got a huge, huge win, thanks to a huge pitching performance by Aaron Harang and a huge (10-run) eighth inning.

As for Casey himself, well, he was huge, too.

Sean Casey went 4-for-5 with four RBIs in the Reds' 12-3 victory. (AP photo)

Casey went 4-for-5 and drove in four runs in the Reds' 12-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a crowd of 41,965 at SBC Park.

The fourth hit for Casey was the 1,000th of his career.

He, of course, was hugely happy with this.

"It was pretty awesome," Casey said. "There are moments that stick with you. I remember my second year, '99, Hal Morris got his 1,000th hit. They flashed it up on the board. I thought, 'Man, that's a lot of hits.'

"I've got the ball from my first hit on the mantel in my dad's office at home. You never think you're going to get to 1,000."

Casey was glad the big hit - a two-run single in the eighth (his second hit in the inning) - came in a win.

"Personal accomplishments are nice," he said. "But it means a lot more when you win."

Thursday's game was significant for three reasons:

• It was the first time the Reds won back-to-back games on the road since July 8-9.

• It came against the Giants, National League wild-card contenders.

• The Reds beat left-hander Kirk Reuter, who entered the game 11-1 against Cincinnati.

Or as Casey said: "It's huge. Huge. We've struggled against these guys."

The Reds pounded out 12 runs on 13 hits, but this was a close game until the eighth.

Casey ended a 3-for-27 skid by collecting seven hits in the last two games of the series.

Harang (7-3) gave up a two-out home run to Deivi Cruz in the second and little else.

"I felt good," Harang said. "I had a good downward angle on my pitches. I was hitting my spots."

With Rueter on the mound, it looked as if the Giants' one run might hold up. Rueter entered with a 2.75 ERA in 16 starts vs. the Reds.

But the Reds tied it in the fifth. Wily Mo Pena hit a 430-foot ground-rule double. It went off the angled wall above the 421-mark in right center and bounced into the stands. Pena moved to third on Jason LaRue's flyout and scored on Juan Castro's single.

The Reds took the lead in the sixth inning. Felipe Lopez and Casey doubled back to back.

Then came the eighth.

Wily Mo Pena is high-fived by teammates in the dugout after scoring on a single by Juan Castro in the fifth inning. (AP photo)

The Reds sent 13 hitters to the plate, collected six hits and scored 10 runs. It was the biggest inning for the Reds since they scored 12 runs against Milwaukee on Aug. 7, 1998.

The big blows were Casey's two-run single and Adam Dunn's three-run homer.

"We've struggled with putting teams away," Casey said. "It was nice to get a 10-run inning to break open a tight game."

The prospect of going into the eighth with a one-run lead was particularly frightening Thursday. Barry Bonds did not start, so he was available to pinch hit.

"We kept Bonds out of the game," Miley said. "You know he was lurking over there somewhere with it a one-run game."

Harang ended up going seven innings, allowing the one run on four hits. He walked one and struck out four. Harang is 3-1 with a 2.74 ERA since coming off the disabled list June 25.

"It's been awhile since we won two in a row on the road," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "To come in here and win two is nice for us."

Or, as Casey would say, huge.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel rf	5	1	0	1	1	1	.267
FLopez ss	4	3	2	1	1	0	.239
Casey 1b	5	2	4	4	0	0	.339
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Dunn lf	5	1	2	3	0	1	.276
WPena cf	4	2	1	1	1	1	.262
LaRue c	3	1	1	0	1	0	.244
JCastro 2b-3b	5	1	1	1	0	1	.240
Hummel 3b	2	0	0	0	0	0	.229
DJimenez ph-2b	2	1	1	1	1	0	.259
Harang p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.027
Griffey Jr. ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.254
Vander Wal 1b	1	0	1	0	0	0	.200
Totals	39	12	13	12	5	5

San Francisco	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Durham 2b	3	1	1	1	1	0	.276
Tucker rf	3	0	1	1	0	0	.271
Ledee cf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.265
Feliz 1b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.262
Pierzynski c	4	0	0	0	0	0	.293
Alfonzo 3b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.267
DCruz ss	3	1	1	1	0	1	.290
Herges p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valdez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Christiansen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mohr lf	3	1	2	0	0	1	.265
Rueter p	2	0	0	0	0	0	.179
Brower p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Eyre p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
NPerez ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.239
Totals	31	3	6	3	1	4

Cincinnati	000	011	0(10)0	-12	13	0
San Francisco	010	000	020	-3	6	1

E-Alfonzo (9). LOB-Cincinnati 7, San Francisco 3. 2B-FLopez 2 (7), Casey 2 (36), WPena (8), Vander Wal (2), Mohr (10). 3B-Durham (5). HR-Dunn (32), off Valdez; DCruz (4), off Harang. RBIs-Freel (19), FLopez (9), Casey 4 (67), Dunn 3 (68), WPena (44), JCastro (13), DJimenez (38), Durham (42), Tucker (41), DCruz (24). S-Harang, Tucker. GIDP-JCastro, Ledee.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 6 (Freel 3, Dunn, LaRue, Harang); San Francisco 1 (Feliz).

Runners moved up-LaRue, Hummel, Tucker.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (JCastro, FLopez and Casey); San Francisco 1 (DCruz and Feliz).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Harang W, 7-3	7	4	1	1	1	4	100	4.31
Van Poppel	2	2	2	2	0	0	19	5.42

San Francisco	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Rueter L, 6-9	5 2/3	6	2	2	1	2	94	4.93
Brower	1 1/3	0	0	0	1	1	24	4.15
Eyre	0	3	3	3	0	0	9	4.80
Herges	1/3	1	3	0	0	0	15	5.76
Valdez	1 1/3	3	4	4	3	2	46	27.00
Christiansen	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	3.90

Eyre pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.

Inherited runners-scored-Herges 2-1, Valdez 3-3, Christiansen 2-0, Brower 2-0.

HBP-by Herges (LaRue). WP-Eyre.

T-2:56. A-41,965 (41,584).