Dennis Santana elects free agency

The move makes room for fellow reliever Ron Marinaccio, who was acquired from the Padres. How much better off would the Pirates be right now if they had kept David Bednar, instead of taking a poor return from the Yankees, and traded Santana last summer? Santana was great last season, but with his strikeout rate down to 20 percent, he’d posted a 6.05 ERA in 41 2/3 innings this year. He’s a free agent at season’s end and any team that claims him would owe him about $1.5 million over the rest of the year, so there’s a good chance he’ll clear waivers.

Mason Montgomery was uninvolved in the late game mix tonight, as he opened and threw a scoreless first inning. The Pirates had Brandon Eisert begin the eighth with a 3-0 lead, but he gave up three singles to load the bases with one out. Soto entered then and allowed all of the inherited runners to score before escaping the inning. Santana took over in the ninth in a tie game and gave up hits to all three batters he faced. The second of those was a double that saw the winning run thrown out at home plate. However, that just served to set up Travis Bazzana’s walkoff homer. Montgomery seems like the Pirates’ best late-game reliever right now, but with the way Don Kelly is managing things, it’s hard to recommend any of the team’s relievers.

Brandon Marsh homered with one out and Bryson Stott singled with two outs, at which point Soto was pulled. Yohan Ramírez took over and allowed the inherited runner to score before finishing the inning. That might have created a save chance for Mason Montgomery, but the Pirates scored three times in the top of the ninth to take it away. Montgomery then pitched a hitless ninth with a four-run lead. Soto has blown two saves and given up runs in two other appearances this month, so it looks like the closer’s role in Pittsburgh is open again. Montgomery, Dennis Santana and Ramirez could all factor into the mix, with Carmen Mlodzinski also possibly picking up some multi-inning saves.

Konnor Griffin’s fielding error started the ninth inning inauspiciously. Soto was able to get Justin Crawford, but walked Adolis García and allowed a ground-ball single to Trea Turner to load the bases. Soto then walked in a run against Kyle Schwarber and allowed a two-RBI ‘single’ to Bryce Harper that was reviewed for a home run and went 388 feet off the top of the wall. There were silver linings here for Soto. One of them is that he was able to exit the inning when Schwarber was thrown out at third on a cutoff play, and he induced an Alec Bohm flyout. Another is that Dennis Santana was absolutely roasted to take the loss in the tenth inning, not even retiring a single batter. Soto should still have plenty of rope as Pittsburgh’s closer.

Dennis Santana got the first two outs in the eighth, but he allowed a couple of hits in the process, which led to the Pirates replacing him with Soto against lefty Drew Gilbert. Quite simply, Soto is the reliever the Pirates have the most faith in at the moment.

Soto has three wins and two saves in a rather spectacular start to his season. He’s not the Pirates’ sole closer right now, but with a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings, he’s made a case for getting the nod over Dennis Santana. Alas, he has a long history of disappointing when faced with elevated expectations.

Santana was tasked with preserving a two-run lead in the final frame after six Pirates relievers combined for eight scoreless frames to open the contest. He served up back-to-back solo homers to Pedro Pagés and JJ Wetherholt. Thing spiralled immediately afterwards as he allowed three consecutive batters to reach before coughing up a go-ahead two-run double to José Fermín.

Santana finished the job for the Pirates, but it came in an 8-4 game so there’s no save for the right-hander. He did pick up a pair of strikeouts without allowing a hit, however, and his ERA for the first three weeks of the season is a miniscule 0.75. That’ll work.

It’s still notable that with similar workloads over the last few days, it was Santana and not Gregory Soto that took the mound at the start of the tenth inning. Santana did not exactly reward the confidence by leaving a pitch right in the middle of the plate for the go-ahead RBI single by James Wood. The committee should remain interesting in Pittsburgh, but perhaps this was a tell-tale sign of trust we should attach some real meaning to.

Is Santana securely back as the Pirates’ closer? He’s now received their last three save opportunities and converted two of them after it looked like Gregory Soto could’ve been zeroing in on the role. Instead, the left-handed Soto pitched the eighth inning of this game and faced lefties James Wood and Daylen Lile. Santana has the inside track at the moment, but expect Pittsburgh to still take the situation into account as to who gets the opportunities for saves.