Cincinnati ? Aaron Boone’s hits have been easy to count and hard to forget.

The slumping third baseman hit a tying solo homer off Mike Williams in the bottom of the ninth and another off the Pittsburgh Pirates closer in the 11th inning, powering the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory Friday night.

With their streak of 49 days alone in first place on the line, the Reds hit solo homers in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 11th innings to hang onto sole possession of first place in the NL Central.

Boone hit the last two, emerging from a deep slump that has brought out the hecklers. He had only seven hits his last 43 at-bats heading into the game.

He hasn’t had many hits, but they’ve sure been memorable. Six of his last 13 hits were homers.

“It’s just a matter of clearing your head and playing ball,” Boone said. “Sometimes you do too listening, too much work, too much trying. It’s been a struggle, but the great thing is that we’re in first place and it’s not too late too late to have a nice year.”

Company was at the door before they rallied to hold onto first.

Austin Kearns hit Mike Lincoln’s first pitch for his eighth homer in the seventh inning, and Juan Encarnacion hit his 12th homer off Mike Fetters an inning later, cutting it to 3-2.

By that time, the Reds knew they needed a win to stay a game ahead of the Cardinals, who beat Kansas City 3-0 earlier in the day. The Reds took sole possession of first place in the NL Central on April 26 and have developed a deep pride in the way they’ve kept it to themselves.

Twice during their stay in first, they’ve rallied to win games and hold off the Cardinals.

“It’s not like you’re looking up at the scoreboard after every couple of outs, but everybody notices,” Kearns said.

Williams, who had blown only one save in 20 chances, got the first out in the ninth before Boone hit a first-pitch homer.

Boone once again hit the first pitch from Williams (1-1) leading off the 11th, a fastball that barely cleared the wall in right-center for his ninth homer.

“Both balls were up,” said Williams, who pitched more than two innings for the first time this season. “He hit them good, and they were not good pitches. I got away with a lot of bad pitches, but not to Boone.”

A scoreless game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 45 minutes after the third inning. A few hundred fans were left in the stands when it ended at 12:35 a.m. EDT.