The surface stuff here is plenty cool enough. Tyler Stephenson, back off the injured list last week after having been shelved once again due to a busted thumb, launched a 2-run dinger off San Diego Padres closer Robert Suarez in the Top of the 9th last night, and it was the difference in the 4-2 victory by the Cincinnati Reds.

The further in you look, though, it just keeps getting cooler.

For one, it was Tyler’s first homer since coming off the IL on September 5th, and his first homer overall since way back on August 4th. He’s just one of many Reds who’s suffered a serious power outage this summer, and his homer couldn’t have come in a bigger spot.

On top of that, said homer came in the same game in which he’d already been robbed of a separate would-be dinger by Fernando Tatis, Jr. with one of the finer robberies I’ve ever seen.

That’s the kind of catch that may well cause your brain to say nope, not my night and I wouldn’t blame anyone for it.

Stephenson’s homer also breathed just a little bit of life back into these Reds, who inched back over .500 to 73-72. They’d already blown a lead and game against the Padres in the series opener on Monday night, and Tuesday night’s storyline had begun to look oh-so-similar. The Reds had jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Zack Littell pitched quite well for a time, and the Padres eventually inched their way back level as Cincinnati’s offense sputtered. The homer, though, blasted that narrative out the window and gave the Reds an absolutely vital win (should the remainder of this season actually turn into anything).

If you keep digging for a story here, though, it’s hard not to notice that we’re just a bit over two full weeks away from the end of the 2025 regular season, and Stephenson’s team control is dwindling right there with it. Though to many (me included) it still seems like a hot minute since he was selected out of high school in the 1st round of the 2015 MLB Draft, 2026 now marks his final year of team control – and he’ll turn 30 during the 2026 season, too. He’s been brilliant at times as a Red, injured through a ton of it (as catchers often are), and just like that the Reds are entering their final offseason with him part of their plans…unless they get around to making a deal to keep him here longer.

This past winter they dealt for Jose Trevino – and they promptly signed him to a contract extension that could run through the 2028 season. Stephenson will earn a decent raise through arbitration on his nearly $5 million 2025 salary next year, and you rarely see the Reds pay any position once, let alone twice. So, we’re just about at the point where you begin to wonder just how long both of these catchers are going to be around Cincinnati, making that swing from Tyler last night stick out a lot, lot more in your memory if you frame it right.

Maybe I’m putting the cart a bit too far before the horse here, but I don’t think I am. Good baseball teams need two good catchers, and the Trevino/Stephenson combo is a pretty damn good and balanced one. Good baseball teams also spend money to take potential problems out of the equation, and I’d like to wish the Reds were one of those ‘good’ teams despite their tendencies. Still, it’s impossible not to wonder if that homer last night might stand out more down the road because it came near the end of a player’s tenure with the club in a big, big spot.