PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez strode to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning during his first big league game in a pressure-packed spot against four-time All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.
The three-run homer that followed capped one of the most powerful MLB debuts.
The Venezuelan became only the seventh player in MLB history — and first Diamondbacks player — to hit two homers in his debut, and the second was a go-ahead shot that led Arizona over the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Tuesday night.
“I returned to my days as a kid — just a dream come true,” a smiling Fernandez said through an interpreter.
In a interesting twist, only six days ago Cleveland phenom Chase DeLauter went deep twice in his first career regular-season game last Thursday — but this was after he made his MLB debut in the playoffs last season.
The 22-year-old Fernandez wasn’t on the D-backs’ roster to open the season, joining the team Monday after Pavin Smith was put on the 10-day injured list because of left elbow soreness. He made the most of his first opportunity, finishing with three hits and four RBIs.
Not bad for a guy ranked as the No. 27 prospect in the organization, according to MLB.com
“He deserves all this credit,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’re so proud of him. He’s a player who came through our system, through our academy, and it’s a great story, a great baseball story. We’ve known about Jose for a long time. We knew he was coming.”
Fernandez hit an infield single in his first big league at-bat and added a solo homer his next time up. The three-run drive that followed put him in elite company, joining DeLauter, Trevor Story (2016), J.P. Arencibia (2010), Mark Quinn (1999), Bert Campaneris (1964) and Bob Nieman (1951) as players with two-homer debuts.
“Stay calm, keep the emotions in check, I knew something like that could happen,” Fernandez said. “Just look for a pitch.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
