TG Fantasy Baseball

ATLANTA (AP) — When one's journey to the major leagues has endured plenty of setbacks, it's good to have someone in your corner.

For Travis Demeritte, it was a woman he'd never met before, sitting in the front row not far from the Atlanta Braves dugout.

After getting words of encouragement from the unknown fan while in the on-deck circle, Demeritte hit his first big league homer in nearly three years to carry the Braves to a much-needed 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

“She told me it was her first game in Atlanta,” Demeritte said. “She told me to go up there and hit a homer. I told her, ‘That's not so easy. You may have to wait on that one.'”

Turns out, she didn't have to wait long at all.

Demeritte stepped into the box and lined an opposite-field drive off Marcus Stroman into the Chop House restaurant in right to break a 1-all tie in the fifth inning.

After crossing home plate, Demeritte took a brief detour on his way to the dugout to give the fan a high-five.

“I had to tell her thank you,” he said. “When someone shows all that faith in you, it gives you confidence. To have someone believe in you like that, it's very reassuring.”

Demeritte also made an impressive catch in right field to back another strong outing by Max Fried (2-2), who pitched four-hit ball over six innings to outduel Stroman (0-3).

Following up his best showing of the season in a win at the Dodgers, Fried's only big mistake was a changeup that Ian Happ launched into the left-field seats leading off the third to tie the game at 1.

The World Series champions won for only the third time in their last eight games. The Cubs have lost six of seven.

Everyone was raving about Demeritte, who was a first-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2013 but has struggled to stick in the big...