ATLANTA – Tyler Stephenson watched his ninth-inning homer Thursday drop over the fence in right-center field and he couldn't help but smile.
He ended his homecoming with a homer.
Stephenson's family and friends, sitting in a section behind the Cincinnati Reds' dugout, filled the entire ballpark with their loud cheers. When the Reds walked off the field following their 12-3 victory against the Atlanta Braves, Stephenson's teammates urged the Truist Park crowd to give him a curtain call despite being the away team.
It was a "surreal" moment for Stephenson, who grew up about 25 minutes away from the Braves' new ballpark, and the Reds were thrilled to end their three-game losing streak.
"(Teammates) loved it," Stephenson said. "They loved the entertainment and the cheering section. It was about mid-game today that I had to tell them to relax because it was just kind of getting to me a little bit. But it was funny, I was catching and (bench coach) Freddie (Benavides) came up to me and he was like, ‘you need to get a hit because I want to see how loud they can get.’"
The rout began in the second inning with a two-out rally against Braves rookie left-hander Kyle Muller. Left-handed pitchers have given the Reds fits all season, but that changed for at least one night with one big swing from Jesse Winker.
Muller had limited lefty hitters to a .107 batting average with zero extra-base hits in his eight career outings. Winker was batting .170 against lefties with two doubles and two homers.