First homer, first run, first big moment for his hometown team. Griffey Jr. ended a rough week the right way.

Junior got that long-awaited first homer in Cincinnati, starting the Reds' comeback from a six-run deficit to an 8-7, 11-inning victory Sunday over the worn-out Cubs.

In addition to his two-run homer in the sixth, he also walked leading off the 11th with the Reds down by a run. Griffey came around on third baseman Shane Andrews horrible throw to first base on Hal Morris' bunt.

Moments later, Alex singled to left off Matt Karcher(0-1), giving the Reds their second 11-inning win in two days and an upbeat ending to a dreary opening week for Junior.

``It was nice to see him break out of that drought, get that first homer out of the way, that first run out of the way,'' manager Jack McKeon said. ``Maybe he'll relax a little bit. It's just a matter of time before he catches on fire.''

Griffey had pretty good timing Sunday. Before the homer, he was only 2-for-24 with three balls out of the infield.

``It was bound to come,'' he said, shrugging when the homer was mentioned. ``You guys were acting like 20 at-bats and I was over the hill or something. I turn on TV and that's all I'd hear.''

He also threw a runner out at home in the eighth inning, part of an overall dreary day for the Cubs. Chicago made four errors and wasted a 7-6 lead in the 11th, when Damon Buford singled in a run off Danny Graves(2-0).

``Giving up a six-run lead, not hitting in the clutch, bases on balls,'' manager Don Baylor said, running down the day's problems. ``You can't make mistakes at the end of the game.''

It was stunning that it came down to that.

Sammy Sosa hit his second homer of the series, one of three off Denny Neagle, as Chicago got ahead 6-0 and appeared headed for an upbeat ending to its international road trip.

After opening the season in Tokyo, St. Louis and Cincinnati, the Cubs finally get back to Wrigley Field on Monday for Baylor's home debut.

Baylor couldn't squeeze enough out of his worn-out bullpen Sunday to keep the big lead from slipping away.

Scott Downs, who was Kentucky's Mr. Baseball as a high school pitcher, made the jump from Double-A and became the 248th pitcher to give up a homer to Griffey.

After getting Griffey on a weak grounder and a strikeout, Downs left a 2-0 fastball over the plate for him in the sixth. Griffey pulled it into the second deck in right field, just above a red banner that said, ``Junior's Playpen.''

The two-run homer brought his first Reds curtain call. Griffey stepped to the front of the dugout and held up his cap for the 37,798 fans before the applause subsided -- the first prolonged ovation since his introduction on opening day.

``Well, you don't expect that,'' Griffey said.

He had a chance to give them something truly memorable -- his 400th homer and a grand slam -- when he came up with the bases loaded in the seventh, but popped out.

The Reds tied it in the eighth on a pair of sacrifice flies and Barry Larkin's RBI single off Rick Aguilra, who was pitching for the third straight day.

The series marked the first time since 1991 that Sosa and Griffey had played against each other in a regular-season game. Of their 29 games together, this was the first in which they both homered.

Each has three homers in those 29 head-to-head games.

Sosa's homer began another bad day for Denny Neagle, who gave up three homers and six runs in 5 2-3 innings, reminiscent of his struggles all spring.

Sosa lined the first pitch over the wall in right-center with two outs in the first, and MArk Grace followed with his third homer for a 2-0 lead.

Glenallen Hill hit a solo homer to start a four-run sixth that made it 6-0.Hill is 12-for-32 (.375) off Neagle with seven homers.