Remember back on May 7th at Great American Ball Park when Cincinnati’s offense was able to go deep 7 times against the Cubs’ pitching staff during the Reds’ 9-0 win?

It was deja-vu all over again on Thursday afternoon, as the Cincinnati Reds once again belted 7 home runs during their 12-7 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs connected for one of their brief leads of the game in the bottom of the 1st inning after Ryan Theriot hit a lead-off single against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo.

2 batters later, Derrek Lee hit an RBI double to score Theriot from 1st base, which gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.

With 1 out & Lee at 2nd base, Aramis Ramirez flied out to Ken Griffey Jr. in right field & Geovany Soto grounded out to Edwin Encarnacion at 3rd base to end the inning.

Cincinnati then answered in the top of the 2nd inning on Edwin Encarnacion’s solo homer (14th of season) off Chicago starter Ted Lilly to tie the game 1-1.

The Cubs answered right back in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Mark DeRosa drew a 1-out walk from Arroyo.

Mike Fontenot then doubled to put runners at 2nd & 3rd with just 1 out for Ted Lilly, who grounded out to Arroyo.

Ryan Theriot then delivered a clutch 2-out, 2-run single which scored both DeRosa & Fontenot to give Chicago a 3-1 lead.

Cincinnati then would rally in the top of the 3rd inning to take the lead for good after Jerry Hairston Jr. drew a lead-off walk from Lilly.

Jeff Keppinger then grounded out to Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base, but was able to advance Hairston Jr. to 2nd on the play.

Ken Griffey Jr. then hit an RBI double to score Hairston Jr. from 2nd base & made it a 3-2 Cub lead.

Brandon Phillips then put the Reds ahead for good with his 2-run homer (15th of season) to give Cincinnati a 4-3 lead.

The Reds actually had a chance to score more runs after Lilly gave up back-to-back 2-out singles to Edwin Encarnacion & Joey Votto, which caused Lou Piniella to make a pitching change.

Michael Wuertz entered the game from the Cubs bullpen & walked David Ross to load the bases, but got out of it by forcing Bronson Arroyo to ground out to Aramis Ramirez to end the inning.

The Reds struck again in the top of the 4th inning after Wuertz allowed back-to-back singles from Jerry Hairston Jr & Jeff Keppinger.

Ken Griffey Jr. then followed with a 3-run homer (12th of season & 605th of career) to give Cincinnati a 7-3 lead.

Brandon Phillips immediately followed with a single & later scored on Edwin Encarnacion’s sac fly to give the Reds a 8-3 lead.

The Cubs were able to chip into their deficit a bit after Jim Edmonds hit a lead-off double against Arroyo to start the bottom of the 4th inning.

2 batters later, Mike Fontenot connected for a 2-run homer (7th of season & 3rd in last 6 games) to make it an 8-5 game.

The Reds got a run right back in the top of the 5th inning on David Ross’ lead-off solo homer (2nd of season) off Cubs reliever Jon Lieber to give Cincinnati a 9-5 lead.

Chicago tried to rally again in the bottom of the 5th inning after Aramis Ramirez drew a 2-out walk from Arroyo.

Geovany Soto then singled to bring up Jim Edmonds, who grounded out to Joey Votto at 1st base to end the scoring threat.

The Reds then added yet another run in the top of the 6th inning on Adam Dunn’s monster solo homer (24th of season) off Lieber that reached Sheffield Avenue & gave Cincinnati a 10-5 lead.

Chicago then used a key Cincinnati error to push across a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, which started with a lead-off single from Mark DeRosa against Reds reliever Bill Bray.

Mike Fontenot then drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with nobody out for pinch-hitter Ronny Cedeno.

Cedeno hit into what looked to be a double-play grounder, but Edwin Encarnacion’s throw sailed into right field as DeRosa scored from 2nd base to make it a 10-6 game.

Ryan Theriot then grounded into a double-play, but scored Fontenot from 3rd base to make it a 10-7 Reds lead.

Chad Gaudin made his Cub debut today & was greeted quite rudely by David Ross, who connected for a solo homer (3rd of season & 2nd homer of game) to give the Reds an 11-7 lead.

Gaudin then gave up a single to Bill Bray, but was able to escape without any further damage.

The Cubs had yet another chance to rally in the bottom of the 7th inning after Aramis Ramirez drew a 1-out walk against Reds reliever Mike Lincoln.

Geovany Soto then hit an infield single to put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Jim Edmonds.

Edmonds just missed hitting a 3-run homer, as Adam Dunn was able to catch the ball on the warning track in deep left field before Mark DeRosa struck out to end the scoring threat.

The Reds scored their 12th & final run in the top of the 9th inning on Joey Votto’s solo homer (13th of season) off Cubs reliever Neal Cotts.

After today’s game, the Reds & Cubs are dead even with 105 home runs apiece by each team.

Bronson Arroyo (7-7) gets the win for the Reds after pitching 5 innings & allowing 5 runs on 7 hits. It’s the first time Arroyo has won a game after giving up 5 runs or more since he did it on April 6th, 2006 which was also against the Cubs.

Ted Lilly (9-6) takes the loss for the Cubs in his shortest outing of the season. Lilly allowed 4 runs on 6 hits in just 2 2/3 innings of work before getting removed from the game & failed to join Ryan Dempster & Carlos Zambrano as 10-game winners before the All-Star Break.

Chicago was still able to take 2 out of 3 against Cincinnati & will now host the San Francisco Giants starting Friday afternoon at 1:20 PM cst from Wrigley Field, as righthander Jason Marquis (6-5, 4.78) will be opposed by Giants righthander Matt Cain (5-7, 4.30).

Marquis lost to San Francisco on July 1st despite allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings during the Cubs’ 2-1 loss.

Cain is 0-4 in 7 day starts with a 6.31 ERA & has only beaten 1 National League team all season on the road. (Beat Washington on June 9th after allowing 1 run on 8 hits in 6 1/3 innings)

Signing off for now,