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Pirates RHP Santana banned 80 games for drugs
Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Edgar Santana will miss all of the abbreviated 2020 season after being suspended 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
MLB announced Sunday that Santana tested positive for Boldenone, a performance-enhancing substance.
The 28-year-old Santana is in the process of a comeback after missing all of the 2019 season following reconstructive surgery on his right elbow in September 2018. Santana is 3-4 with a 3.31 ERA in 88 career games, all with the Pirates. He worked five hitless innings of relief in spring training before the MLB season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington called Santana’s suspension “disappointing.”
4 minor leaguers suspended for violating drug program
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez was one of four minor leaguers suspended Sunday for violating the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Gutierrez, a 24-year-old righthander, received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance. José Rosario, a member of the Minnesota Twins’ Dominican Summer League roster, was suspended 50 games following a second positive test for a drug of abuse.
Reza Aleaziz and Juan Idrogo, minor league pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers, also received suspensions. Aleaziz was suspended 50 games after testing positive for Amphetamine, and Idrogo received a 72-game ban after testing positive for gw501516, a performance-enhancing substance.
The suspensions were announced by the Commissioner’s office.
Precautionary quarantine at Belmont Park barn is lifted
Officials have lifted a precautionary quarantine on a barn at Belmont Park after test results for a horse suspected of having equine herpesvirus Type 1 were negative.
The New York Racing Association said Sunday all horses in Barn 37 were found to not have fever and were asymptomatic. As a result, they can enter races and train among the general population.
The precautionary quarantine had been put in place a day earlier after a 4-year-old colt exhibited fever and neurological symptoms. Freudnme is being monitored by a private veterinarian. The colt last raced at Finger Lakes in upstate New York in June 2019.
EHV-1 can cause an upper respiratory infection in young horses. If a number of horses are housed together, they can become sick and then recover uneventfully. However, equine herpesvirus-1 can also cause a severe neurological disease that affects a horse’s brain and spinal cord, and may result in paralysis and death.