Reds' Tyler Stephenson delivers biggest swing of his life for personal milestone, huge NL Wild Card moment

Billy Heyen

Reds' Tyler Stephenson delivers biggest swing of his life for personal milestone, huge NL Wild Card moment image

Tyler Stephenson was already 3-for-3, including a double off the very top of the centerfield fence.

The Cincinnati Reds catcher had never had a four-hit game, and the Reds trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out.

But Dennis Santana hung a slider, and Stephenson didn't miss it.

He launched it, deep and out to centerfield. Tie game.

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The Reds entered the night a game behind the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card race but holding the tiebreaker.

A win and a Mets loss would put the Reds back in control of their own postseason destiny.

The Reds were two outs from not getting that win.

Then Stephenson did his thing.

He's got 13 RBI in 13 games since his return from injury.

None were bigger than this one. It could be a swing that defines the Reds' season.

Cincinnati still had to get another run, of course.

But in that moment, as Stephenson's long drive hung in the air, there was nowhere else he or any of the Reds' fans in the ballpark would've rather been.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle