After months of beating minor league pitching into submission, Xavier Batista was thrust into the limelight and rose to the occasion.
On Saturday, a day after the Carp signed him to a standard contract, the 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic rocked Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium with a two-run homer. The pinch-hit blast brought the Carp from behind in their interleague win against the Chiba Lotte Marines.
On Sunday, he repeated the feat with another two-run, pinch-hit jack that iced the series finale against the Marines. In so doing, Batista became the first foreign player to homer in his first two Nippon Professional Baseball at-bats.