Diamondbacks rookie enters rare company with 2 homers in debut

Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez joined rare company on Tuesday night as he hit two home runs in his major league debut against the Detroit Tigers.

Fernandez hit his first home run in the fourth inning – a solo shot off Casey Mize. It cut the Diamondbacks’ deficit to four runs as the Tigers piled on five runs in the third inning.

He was called upon in the eighth inning to muster up heroics against All-Star closer Kenley Jansen. Fernandez delivered a three-run shot to cap a six-run eighth inning. Arizona won the game, 7-5.

Fernandez, 22, became the seventh player since 1900 to hit two home runs in his debut.

“I returned to my days as a kid — just a dream come true,” he said.

Fernandez only appeared on the major league roster on Monday after missing the cut to begin the season last week. Arizona needed another guy on the team after placing Pavin Smith on the 10-day injured list with left elbow soreness. He finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored.

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“He deserves all this credit,” Arizona 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 is the second player in the last week to hit two home runs in his major league debut. Cleveland Guardians batter Chase DeLauter did it Thursday. He made his regular-season debut against the Seattle Mariners after appearing first in the postseason.

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Trevor Story (2016), J.P. Arencibia (2010), Mark Quinn (1999), Bert Campaneris (1964) and Bob Nieman (1951) also accomplished the feat.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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