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    Dennis Santana joins Diamondbacks’ bullpen Sunday

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    AZ Relief Pitcher #60
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    Diamondbacks selected the contract of RHP Dennis Santana from Triple-A Reno.

    Santana was inked to a minor league contract last week after he elected free agency from the Pirates. While he has struggled to a 6.05 ERA over 41 2/3 innings on the season, he has proven to be a viable late-inning option in the past and could work his way into the saves mix with the Diamondbacks if he pitches well out of the gate.
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  • AZ Relief Pitcher #60
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    This is not a bad gamble for the Diamondbacks, who had to remove Paul Sewald from the closer’s role last week. Santana had a 6.05 ERA over 41 2/3 innings this season for the Pirates, but he was solid for them as a late-inning reliever last season and could regain some value in Arizona. He’s unlikely to be trusted with save chances, however.
  • FA Relief Pitcher #60
    Santana hits the open market after passing through waivers unclaimed and refusing an outright assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis. It’s a tad surprising there wasn’t a team out there willing to roll the dice given his high-leverage experience, but no team was willing to pick up the remaining portion of his $3.5 million salary. The 30-year-old former stopper was jettisoned from Pittsburgh’s roster last week after struggling to a bloated 6.05 ERA across 41 2/3 innings this season. He should be able to latch on somewhere else as extra bullpen depth.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #60
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #60
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #31
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #31
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #31
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #31
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #60
    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.
  • PIT Relief Pitcher #60
    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.

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    Adley Rutschman went 2-for-4 with a homer, three RBI and a walk as the Red Sox topped the D-backs 9-3 on Tuesday.

    Rutschman had a two-run single in the first and then hit a 401-foot homer off Merrill Kelly in the third. It was his first homer in seven games for Boston after 69 in 3 1/2 seasons with the Orioles.
  • BOS Starting Pitcher #55
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    Ranger Suarez yielded four runs in 5 1/3 innings Tuesday in a win over the Diamondbacks.

    Congratulations to Suarez on his first decision since June. All of the runs came on Gabriel Moreno’s grand slam in the third, making this Suarez’s first win while giving up four runs since Sept. 21, 2023. He’s now 5-3 while posting a 3.41 ERA in 22 starts this season, and he’ll pitch in Miami next time out.
  • AZ Starting Pitcher #29
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    Merrill Kelly was tagged for six runs in four innings Tuesday in a loss to the Red Sox.

    Kelly surrendered seven hits with just four hard-hit balls allowed, which seems like awful luck. Still, when your strikeout rate is just 15 percent, you’re going to have bad luck sometimes. Kelly is 8-11 with a 5.37 ERA, and things don’t figure to get any easier against the Cubs next week.
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    Gabriel Moreno hit a grand slam to account for all of Arizona’s runs in Tuesday’s loss to the Red Sox.

    This might not be the Diamondbacks’ year, but at least Moreno is fulfilling his potential in becoming of the game’s best catchers. The 26-year-old is batting .308/.385/.470 with 10 homers and 60 RBI through 98 games. Not to say they’re exactly equivalent offensive threats, but the only player in MLB with a higher average and more homers than Moreno is Yordan Alvarez.
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    Fernando Tatis Jr. homered twice and robbed Francisco Lindor of a grand slam Tuesday in the Padres’ 5-2 win over the Mets.

    Tatis hit a 452-foot homer off Zac Thornton on the very first pitch of the game, went over the wall in right to take away a slam from Lindor in the second and then added a 379-foot, two-run homer in the fifth. It’s rather absurd now to remember how Tatis went the first 55 games of the year without a homer. He has 15 in 70 games since.
  • SD Starting Pitcher #38
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    Robbie Ray pitched six innings and allowed one run to pick up a win over the Mets on Tuesday.

    Well, it’s definitely an improved outing from Ray, but that’s mostly because Fernando Tatis Jr. made a jumping catch to take away a grand slam from Francisco Lindor in the second. As a result, Ray collected hit first win in three starts for the Padres. He issued three more walks tonight, bringing his total to 11 in 15 innings for his new team. Those that stuck with him were rewarded, but the outing doesn’t make him look like any better of a bet for the future. He’ll start at home against the Pirates next time out.
  • SD Relief Pitcher #22
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    Mason Miller struck out two in a perfect 10th for his 31st save Tuesday against the Mets.

    It’s actually Miller’s first perfect inning in six tries this month, but it’s probably too early to say that he’s slipping. He’s tied for third in the majors in save, four behind Bryan Baker for the lead.
  • NYM Starting Pitcher
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    Zac Thornton surrendered three runs in five innings Tuesday in a loss to the Padres.

    Two of the runs came in the fifth, an inning that featured two incidents of gloves flying off the hands of Mets fielders. The first of those was on Jake Cronenworth’s fly to left to start the inning. A.J. Ewing caught the ball on a dive, only for his glove to be dislodged when he hit the ground. That resulted in a single. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a homer. Luis Rengifo then grounded down the third base line. Bo Bichette got to the ball but made a bad throw, and Christopher Morel had his glove come off while trying and failing to make a swipe tag at first. No runs followed after that, but it was still funny. Thornton dropped to 3-4 with a 3.04 ERA. He’ll face the Brewers next Tuesday.
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    Pete Crow-Armstrong went 1-for-3 with a solo homer in the Cubs’ 4-3 win over the White Sox on Tuesday.

    A day after hitting a leadoff and walk-off home run against the White Sox, he started Tuesday’s contest with another leadoff blast off Bryan Hudson for his 31st homer of the season. With a runner on and one out and the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, the White Sox weren’t going to give him a chance to do it again as they issued an intentional walk. The 24-year-old outfielder is having an incredible campaign, slashing .282/.381/.555 with the 31 homers, 90 runs scored, 79 RBI, and 31 steals across 566 plate appearances.
  • CHC 1st Baseman #29
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    Michael Busch went 1-for-3 with a solo homer and a walk against the White Sox on Tuesday.

    Busch followed Pete Crow-Armstrong in the first inning with a solo homer off Bryan Hudson. He later drew a walk in the sixth. The 28-year-old first baseman is up to 15 homers and 64 RBI while hitting .244/.351/.389 across 561 plate appearances. His batted ball quality is down significantly from last season, making it difficult to follow up his 34-homer campaign. Though 2025 might’ve been the outlier, as his batted-ball metrics are more in line with his 2024 output.