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PHILADELPHIA -- Boos bounced around Citizens Bank Park after Rhys Hoskins' first at-bat on Friday. Phillies fans were frustrated that their team's first baseman – who had only one hit in his first four playoff games and made a costly defensive miscue in a loss on Wednesday – just struck out. The sounds were different for Hoskins' second at-bat. 

The contact was loud. The ballpark was louder than it's been in 11 years.

Hoskins broke things open with a no-doubt, three-run homer as the Phillies beat the Braves, 9-1, in NLDS Game 3 – their first home playoff game since Oct. 7, 2011. Hoskins' 394-foot blast marked the return of postseason baseball in a city that went 4,025 days without it. Citizens Bank Park hosted 842 games since October 2011, and none of them came close to this feeling.

It was fitting, then, that Hoskins was the one to send the sellout crowd of 45,538 into a rally-towel-waving frenzy. Hoskins is the longest-tenured Phillies position player and played 667 career regular season games before getting a taste of the postseason for the first time this month. 

"He's had a lot of big homers here, and he's taken a lot of grief for the last game he played because of the errors," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Hoskins. "So I'm just so happy for him. There's toughness there."

Hoskins has heard plenty of cheers and his share of boos during six years. But he's also seen plenty of empty blue seats at Citizens Bank Park as April hope always seemed to fade to September apathy. 

But these Phillies have made Philadelphia really care about baseball again.

Aaron Nola, the longest-tenured Phillies player, was stellar in his 102nd career start at CBP, throwing six innings without allowing an earned run. The Phillies celebrated a playoff berth and a Wild Card Series victory in his previous two outings, and Nola received a standing ovation when he exited the one that pushed the defending World Series champs to the brink of elimination.

"We knew the crowd was going to be a factor – a huge factor. We heard about it, and it blew expectations," Hoskins said. "It was a huge part of the victory. As stuff starts to snowball, they get louder."

The thunderous roars for Hoskins, Nola, Thomson (who was celebrated during introductions and has become a bit of a Philadelphia cult hero) and others provided what was briefly a standard October soundtrack in South Philly 11-15 years ago. But the defining visual of the game was how Hoskins celebrated his home run.

Hoskins instantly raised his arms above his head, screamed at his own dugout and spiked his bat so hard the handle took out a chunk of infield dirt.

"I didn't know what I did until a couple innings later, really" Hoskins said after the game. "Just something that came out. Raw. But god, it was fun."

(Note: Please also enjoy Jean Segura's over-the-railing leap.)

The wait for the next playoff game in Philadelphia won't even last 24 hours. The Phillies have the chance to close out the Braves in Game 4 on Saturday afternoon. 

"We've been on some teams that lost a lot and kept inching our way up. Every spring training, the team's getting better," said Nola, who debuted in 2015. "The guys getting better, getting closer as a group. And finally made that push this year. It's been fun so far. But we've got tomorrow to take care of."