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CHICAGO — It was Ken Griffey Jr. who said in the early morning gloom of the pre-game Cincinnati Reds clubhouse, "Do you think we can mix in a 'W?'"

And it was Griffey who went out onto the Wrigley Field grass and dirt and did something positive about it.

Griffey provided a double, his 605th career home run and four RBIs in a 12-7 victory Thursday, July 11 — and nobody has to guess which way the wind was blowing and if it was humid.

With the flags flapping straight out, the Reds bombarded the Wrigley bleachers and surrounding streets with seven homers — one in six straight innings.

There were two by David Ross, Griffey's three-run rip and one each by Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto and Adam Dunn, a blast that cleared Sheffield Avenue beyond the right-field bleachers and knocked on the door of a brownstone.

"That's one they won't be throwing back," said Dunn with a laugh.

"That one should have counted for two," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Jon Lieber, the pitcher who threw it, tried to top his manager by saying, "Should've counted for three. He's a big boy."

For two days, the wind blew ill for the Reds in two straight defeats, but on this day it was the Reds taking advantage of the meteorologic circumstances.

"It has been a combination of everybody trying to do too much, especially here (in the two losses) with that team in first place," said Griffey. "We've been doing it all year, everybody trying to do too much. It was fun to be in a small slugfest."

A one-way slugfest — while the Reds bashed seven homers, only Mike Fontenot connected for the Cubs.

The Reds homered in the second (Encarnacion, solo), in the third (Phillips, two-run), in the fourth (Griffey, three-run), in the fifth (Ross, solo), in the sixth (Dunn, solo) and in the seventh (Ross, solo).

They skipped the eighth, then Votto led the ninth with another homer.

It wasn't even a club record. In 1999 in Philadelphia's old Veterans Stadium the Reds hit nine homers, including at least one in seven straight innings — the second through the eighth.

The beneficiary was Bronson Arroyo, who gave up five runs and seven hits over the required five innings to qualify for his third straight win, leveling his record at 7-7.

He was most appreciative, though.

"It is always great to pitch five and dive and walk out with a four-run lead (9-5) after giving up five runs," said Arroyo. "Nice when I didn't throw that well to win one and get my record even going into the All-Star break."

When told the Reds also hit seven home runs this year against the Cubs in Great American, Arroyo smiled and said, "Well, it would be more impressive if we were playing in San Diego. But playing here and playing at our park in Cincinnati — I might hit seven. It was hot and humid, but we do have a lot of guys with power so I'm not surprised when these guys put up a bunch of homers."

Ross hit two, but he pointed to the one Phillips hit as, "The Big One."

The Reds trailed 3-2 when Phillips torched his to put the Reds in front 4-3, and they never looked back as Griffey ripped his three-run blast in the next inning.

Of his two homers, Ross said, "I got a chance to play (his first start in this series) and I made the most of it (three hits and a walk).

"Our offense (18 hits) took over today," said Baker. "We needed to have our offense break out and keep scoring because in this ballpark you're never comfortable, I don't care what the score is."

Baker said he knew from the beginning it would be a high-scoring game. One look at which way the flags are blowing atop the scoreboard is all the indicator you need.

"You have to not have walks and errors help create offense for them," he added. "We still gave away a few runs and we just have to stop giving away runs."

A throwing error by Encarnacion in the sixth led to two runs, enabling the Cubs to creep within 9-7, but Mike Lincoln, Jared Burton and Francisco Cordero held the Cubs scoreless on one hit over the final three innings.

"On days when your pitching isn't right, when Arroyo struggles, that's when you want your offense to be right," said Baker. "That's what happened today — one of the few times when one side of our game isn't clicking the other side is."

Having a blast, again
If it was a Red(s) letter day at Wrigley Field on Thursday, July 10, then the letters were H and R. Six Reds pounded out seven home runs in a 12-7 win over the Cubs.

Most Reds team home runs in a game: 9, Sept. 4, 1999, in Philadelphia. Final: Reds 22, Philadelpia 3

Most Reds team home runs this season:
7, May 7, 2008, at Great American Ball Park. Final: Reds 9, Chicago 0.
7, July 10, 2008, at Wrigley Field. Final: Reds 12, Chicago 7.

Today's game
Who: Reds (Fogg 1-2) at Brewers (Parra 8-2)
When: 8:05 p.m.
Radio: WLW-AM (700); WONE-AM (980)
TV: FSN Ohio