TORONTO, ON —

The return of Joey Votto has been long-awaited, but the wait was worth it after he hit a tiebreaking homerun to give the Reds' a lead over Toronto on Sunday.

It seems fitting that Votto would hit a homerun against he Blue Jays after he was asked what sights he wanted to see on his trip back home and he responded, "Sights-wise, the center of the baseball. Parts of the city, somewhere around windows, maybe the second deck. Somewhere around there. That’s what I’m targeting.”

The Reds have been without their star first baseman since May 3 when he was placed on the COVID-19 injured list.

Votto was reassigned to play with the Reds' Triple A affiliate Louisville Bats before returning to the major league club. When he was placed on the injured list, he was hitting .122 with four runs, three RBI's and a double, so far this season.

On May 16, the Reds announced that Votto would continue his rehab assignment in Dayton with the Dayton Dragons, where he started out his MLB career when he first got drafted in 2002.

Votto returned to the Reds' roster on Friday when the team traveled to his hometown of Toronto to face the Blue Jays.

Although the Reds' only won one game out of the three-game series, this win was a meaningful one for the first baseman.

Bally Sports Jim Day asked Votto how much his tiebreaking homerun meant to him, since it was Votto's first home run of the season as well.

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"It has meaning, but I gotta start hitting. So, I could've done it on Mars and it would have felt satisfying. You know, I have to perform well, I've got to fit with these guys. I've got to do my job and you know, I have to do it ASAP and that was ASAP," Votto replied.

Day then teased that it could be Votto's last time playing in the Blue Jay's stadium, but Votto wasn't thinking about that, his mind was set on the game and doing what he did best.

"I wasn't thinking like that," Votto said. "I'm thinking I'm in the middle of competition, our teams tied. I've got to get a good pitch to hit. I'm starting to feel better at the plate. I don't want to get cheated. I want to make sure that I'm being myself and competing well... When you're in the middle of work like this, that's the priority, you know? I'm wearing a Reds uniform right now in a road city. No question about, it has great meaning, but I'm not thinking about that right in the heart of competition."

Votto also spoke about how returning to his hometown means a lot to him because he gets to see and spend time with his family that he doesn't normally see all the time.

"I got to see my mother. You know, you go months, months without seeing family. And it's the nature of our job I wouldn't have any other way, but I got to see my little nephew and my brother and his and his wife. They got to play on the field yesterday after the game. It means a great deal to me to be able to see so many familiar faces and receive a ton of support in my home city," Votto told Day.

The Cincinnati Reds will be back in action at Great American Ball Park on Monday against the Chicago Cubs, where hopefully Votto and the Reds can keep the ball rolling.

Eight teenage girls were charged with murder Tuesday in the stabbing death of a 59-year-old Toronto man in what police are calling a "swarming" attack.

The man was found stabbed Sunday shortly after 12 a.m., following a report of an assault in the area of York Street and University Avenue. The man was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died, police said. Authorities did not release the man's name pending family notification.

The eight girls were found shortly after the attack and taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder, Detective Sgt. Terry Browne of the Toronto Police Service Homicide Unit said during a news conference Tuesday.

Three of the girls are 13, three of them are 14, and two of them are 16, according to a news release from the Toronto Police Service.

The group of teenagers "met each other through social media. They come from varying parts of the city," Browne said Tuesday.

"We don't know how or why they met on that evening and why that destination was downtown Toronto," Browne said, adding police believe the group may have been involved in an "altercation" earlier in the evening before the stabbing.

Browne said he would not call the group of girls a "gang" but noted they participated in a behavior known as "swarming," in which multiple attackers target a victim simultaneously. A number of weapons were also found with the girls, Browne added.

Three of the girls have had "prior contact" with police, Browne said.