Puerto Rico's Neftali Soto hit a home run in his Nippon Professional Baseball debut as the Yokohama BayStars defeated the Yomiuri Giants 12-8 on Sunday.
In front of 28,962 at windy Yokohama Stadium, Soto went 2-for-5 with a first-inning RBI double and a third-inning solo homer. He played briefly in the majors with the Cincinnati Reds but joined the BayStars in November after two seasons in Triple-A for the Nationals organization.
"It was my first game on the top team and I really wanted to hit, so I'm glad I did so in my first at-bat," the 29-year-old Soto said. "I was just thinking about getting a hit in all of my at-bats."