BOSTON - Vaughn Grissom was rounding third base at Fenway Park when it sank in.
He had just cleared the Green Monster for his first hit in his Major League Baseball debut, and he gave himself an emphatic clap before finishing his home run trot.
"That was like a 'We made it' moment, I guess," the Atlanta Braves' top prospect said after homering to help the team beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 on Wednesday night. "Like a 'We did it' type of feeling."
Grissom homered onto Lansdowne Street - and then singled and scored another run - and Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer to help complete a two-game sweep in an interleague series. Kyle Wright earned his National League-leading 14th win for the reigning World Series champions, who arrived in Boston after losing four of five to the first-place New York Mets and are now seven games back as the second-place team in the NL East, where the Braves are the four-time reigning division champs.
"We had a rough weekend," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "Which is fine; it's going to happen. I did not think this was going to be bump free."
Called up earlier in the day from Double-A Mississippi, the 21-year-old Grissom went hitless in his first two at-bats but hit the first pitch he saw in the seventh inning completely out of the stadium. He tossed his bat aside before taking off around the bases, clapped his hands as he rounded third and arrived home to be congratulated by fellow rookie Michael Harris II, who had singled ahead of him.
A healthy number of Braves fans in the crowd of 35,406 gave Grissom a big cheer. He singled his next time up, stole second base and scored. When he gave a postgame interview on the field, fans behind the dugout chanted his name.
"I just took a second to myself (before the game) to just really look at everything, and just do my best to just take a picture in my head," said Grissom, who went back on the field with his family after the game. "You really don't know until you actually do it. I mean, you try to prepare yourself and all that, but it's nothing like how you think it's going to be."
AP photo by Charles Krupa / Atlanta Braves second baseman Vaughn Grissom celebrates while running up the first base line after hitting a two-run homer in his MLB debut Wednesday night against the Boston Red Sox.Wright (14-5) allowed one run on one hit and one walk in six innings, striking out five batters as he won for the 10th win in 12 decisions.
Red Sox trade deadline pickup Tommy Pham homered for the third straight game, hitting a three-run shot in the seventh to turn a 5-1 deficit into a one-run game, but the Braves scored two more runs in the eighth on Eddie Rosario's double and Ozuna's sacrifice fly.
Nick Pivetta (8-9) pitched six innings, allowing three runs - he gave up Ozuna's homer - on five hits and two walks while striking out five Braves. The Red Sox, last in the American League East, lost for the fourth straight game and the sixth time in their past seven.
Grissom was batting .324 with 14 homers, 67 RBIs and 27 stolen bases at Single-A and Double-A this season. His mother, father, stepfather, sister, aunt and girlfriend made the trip from Florida to see him play second base and bat ninth in his debut.
He hit into a fielder's choice in the third inning, struck out in the fifth and came up again with one on and one out in the seventh, when he homered to make it 5-1. Grissom added a single in the ninth, and the Braves made sure to call for this ball as a keepsake - though the home run ball was eventually retrieved, too. He later scored on Dansby Swanson's single to make it 8-4.
"He was like a kid out on the playground, pretty much just having a ball. I think they said it's genuine. I think that guy really likes to play baseball," Snitker said. "It's a novel idea: Have fun playing baseball."
Grissom took over for Orlando Arcia, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring he sustained running the bases in Atlanta's 10-inning victory Tuesday night. Regular second baseman Ozzie Albies is recovering from a broken foot.
Harris, who was called up in May, is also a 21-year-old prospect and moved up to the eight spot in the order. He entered Wednesday's game hitting .288 with 10 homers, 34 RBIs and 12 stolen bases while shoring up the defense in center field.
The Braves will have their second day off in four days Thursday but remain on the road, visiting the Miami Marlins for four games in three days starting Friday.