The Cleveland Indians' Leonys Martin is making a dramatic comeback after nearly dying last season from a bacterial virus. Martin homered in Tuesday's exhibition game and has been having a solid training camp with the Indians, who are hoping the 31-year-old can help them this season.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Leonys Martin turned and sprinted toward the gap in left-center field to snare Nick Madrigal’s drive. He ripped a breaking ball over the wall in right-center for a home run, and returned a fervent embrace from a former teammate.

All in a day’s work on Tuesday.

All in Martin’s new life with the Cleveland Indians.

Just six games after arriving from Detroit in a July 31 trade, Martin’s career came to a crashing halt. He was stricken with a life-threatening infection that entered his blood stream and damaged his organs. He feared that he would never see his wife, Yaimira, or their three children again. Fortunately, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic reversed the infection and Martin was released on Aug. 19, following a 12-day hospital stay in which he lost 45 pounds.

Now, after an extensive training program in Florida, which included lunges, leg lifts, agility ladders, sprints and core strength training, Martin is back in peak physical health. Extensive hitting, throwing and fielding restored his baseball readiness.

“I take time to recover and get myself ready for spring training, making sure I am ready from day one, so that is exactly what I did,” Martin said after hitting a two-run homer in Cleveland’s 11-0 win over the White Sox.

“It was a long way to get here, a long way to get where I want to be, it took a lot of months. I took it with baby steps; one step at a time, but thank God I am able to do what I love and happy to be back in baseball,” he said.

Martin, who turns 31 on Wednesday, wore an ear-to-ear grin all the way around the bases after homering off left-hander Bernardo Flores Jr. It was his second home run during Cactus League play, improving his spring average to .500 (8 of 16) with a .875 slugging percentage.

“He swung the bat really well. He’s swung well against lefties and righties,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “The more lefties he sees the better, keeps your mechanics.”

Martin’s performance is not surprising, according to Francona, because he and his staff kept close tabs on his offseason progress.