(Updated July 21, 2019)
Trailing by eight runs with two outs and one runner on base, the Cardinals produced a 10-run inning and beat the Reds.
The Cardinals’ comeback happened on June 9, 1968, in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds led, 8-0, scoring all of their runs against starter Steve Carlton, before the Cardinals rallied for 10 in the fifth inning.
Ron Willis relieved Carlton and shut out the Reds on one hit for the final five innings, earning the win in a 10-8 Cardinals victory.
Game 2 of the doubleheader was the reverse of Game 1. The Cardinals led, 6-0, in the fourth inning, but the Reds rallied with a run in the fourth, four in the sixth and a run in the eighth, tying the score at 6-6. The Reds won, 7-6, with a run in the 12th against Carlton, who relieved in the 10th.
“The wackiest doubleheader in years,” wrote Bill Ford of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
On a roll
In the opener, the Reds reached Carlton for nine hits and three walks before he was relieved by Hal Gilson with two outs in the fourth. Eight of the hits against Carlton were singles and the other was a double.
Reds starter Gerry Arrigo shut out the Cardinals for four innings. In the fifth, Dal Maxvill led off with a shot that deflected off Arrigo’s glove for a single. Maxvill moved to second on a wild pitch, but Arrigo retired the next two batters.
After that, nine in a row reached base for the Cardinals and all scored.
Julian Javier started the hit parade with a double, scoring Maxvill. Curt Flood followed with an infield single, moving Javier to third. Orlando Cepeda singled, driving in Javier, advancing Flood to second and making the score 8-2.
Arrigo walked Mike Shannon, loading the bases, and Tim McCarver singled, driving in Flood and Cepeda, moving Shannon to third and cutting the Reds’ lead to 8-4.
Bob Lee relieved Arrigo and faced Roger Maris, who was batting for right fielder Dick Simpson, the No. 7 batter in the order. Maris walked, reloading the bases. Maxvill followed with his second single of the inning, scoring Shannon and McCarver, advancing Maris to second and getting the Cardinals within two at 8-6.
Johnny Edwards, batting for Gilson, singled, scoring Maris and slicing the Reds’ lead to 8-7, with Maxvill going to third.
Bill Kelso relieved Lee and the first pitch he threw to Lou Brock was hit nearly to the top of the right-field bleachers for a three-run home run, putting the Cardinals ahead, 10-8. Javier lined out to left, ending the inning.
“If I had known we were going to score 10 runs, I’d have done something different,” Carlton told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Fly chasers
The 10-run inning and the comeback from an eight-run deficit weren’t Cardinals records. The 1926 Cardinals had a 12-run third inning in a 23-3 victory over the Phillies Boxscore and the 2012 Cardinals had a 12-run seventh inning in a 12-0 victory over the Cubs. Boxscore In 1952, the Cardinals overcame an 11-0 Giants lead after three innings and won, 14-12. Boxscore
Strong outfield play by Flood and Maris prevented the Reds from denting Willis.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tommy Helms hit a sinking liner to right that Maris caught on the run.
In the sixth, Alex Johnson’s drive to left-center was tracked down by Flood, who raced up the outfield incline to reach the ball. “My knees were up in my chest,” said Flood.
Two innings later, Flood leaped above the fence in right-center to catch a ball and deprive Vada Pinson of a home run. Boxscore
Long day
In the second game, the Cardinals used five pitchers and the Reds used six. Reds starter Billy McCool faced five batters, all reached base and he was lifted before recording an out. The Game 1 starters, Arrigo and Carlton, both relieved in Game 2. Willis pitched again, too, and held the Reds scoreless for 1.2 innings.
After scoring five runs in the first and another run in the fourth, the Cardinals went scoreless over the next eight innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Leo Cardenas doubled with two outs against Carlton, driving in Tony Perez from first with the winning run. Carlton, who had won his last five decisions, took the loss. Boxscore
The Cardinals went to the airport after the game for a flight to Atlanta. They were aboard when an electrical problem on the plane delayed takeoff. The team waited in darkness without air-conditioning inside the plane while repairs were made.
“Nothing like a sauna after a hot doubleheader,” said Flood.
History repeats
Fifty-one years later, the Cardinals repeated the comeback feat of the 1968 team.
On July 19, 2019, the Cardinals came back from a 7-0 deficit with a 10-run sixth inning and beat the Reds, 12-11, at Cincinnati. Boxscore
RetroSimba 
So sorry Ron died so young.
Yes, Ron Willis had a brain tumor and died at 34 in 1977. His primary catcher on the Cardinals, Tim McCarver, visited Willis in the hospital the night he died.
Gilson and Simpson were both traded by the Cardinals six days later, to Houston for Ron Davis.
Yes, Dick Simpson batted .232 in 56 at-bats as the right-handed-hitting backup to right fielder Roger Maris for the 1968 Cardinals. Cardinals general manager Bing Devine preferred Ron Davis for that reserve outfield role and acquired him from the Astros on June 15, 1968, for Simpson and pitcher Hal Gilson. Ron Davis was a good defensive outfielder but he hit .177 in 79 at-bats for the 1968 Cardinals as the backup to Maris in right and Curt Flood in center. Unimpressed, the Cardinals traded Davis to the Padres after the 1968 season.