Santana puts his plus side on display
Veteran homers, shows his glove in 7-2 victory
BRADENTON, Fla. — Much has been made — and for good reason — of how Carlos Santana has taken some of the Pirates’ younger Latin players such as Oneil Cruz and Rodolfo Castro under his wing, mentoring them and teaching them what it takes to thrive in Major League Baseball.
But there’s been another part of the Pirates’ Santana acquisition that has been discussed less this spring: his offense. Through his first five games, Santana’s bat was quiet, as the 36-year-old had just two singles.
During the Pirates’ 7-2 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays at LECOM Park on Tuesday, Santana reminded everyone of why the Pirates ultimately brought him here, homering in the fourth inning and making a couple solid defensive plays in the field.
“He’s gonna do that for us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Just good, aggressive swings. With a veteran guy, we’ll see him start to get his swing.”
After Andrew McCutchen reached on an infield single, Santana drove a middleaway sinker to right-center field for his first homer. The two-run shot on a 97-mph pitch from Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi needed pretty much all of its listed distance (340 feet) to clear the fence.
The Pirates (3-6-2) signed Santana this offseason to a one-year, $6.725 million contract because they knew the shift would no longer impact him. He saw it in 98.3% of his left-handed plate appearances (356 of 362) in 2022, though against Kikuchi, he was hitting right-handed.
Given the Pirates’ offensive situation, it’s clear they need more than strong words or leadership from Santana. They need offense, specifically the ball landing over the fence from someone who has seven 20-plus-homer seasons on his resume.
The sun was brutal in this one. One Toronto outfield misplay netted the Pirates one run in the seventh. They struck for four more in the eighth, two coming on a ball that right fielder Zach Britton hopped up to try and catch — and missed.
“Spring training in Florida, high-sky days, it can be challenging,” Shelton said. “I think you saw two pretty good outfielders lose balls. Their guys lost a couple balls. It’s challenging and something we’re continuing to work on.”
On the mound
Mitch Keller’s outing included plenty of strikes, some terrific pitch execution and a couple rules-related quirks, as he delivered three scoreless frames, allowing three hits, walking none and also striking out three. The right- hander threw 40 pitches, 28 for strikes, firing first-pitch strikes to eight of the 12 men he faced.
In the third, Blue Jays second baseman Whit Merrifield took advantage of Keller having used up his two free pickoff attempts — the pitcher was intentionally trying to work on picking more — and Merrifield got a huge jump when he waited out the pitch clock.
Keller eventually picked off Merrifield heading into third, an inexplicable gamble with two outs.
All in all, though, great stuff from Keller, whose fastball velocity has remained steady, the sinker effective and his breaking balls almost always controllable.
“I thought it went really well,” Keller said. “It’s good to walk with [ Austin] Hedges back there. Just get on a good game plan. Loved what we were doing.”
Chase De Jong buzzed through a six-pitch fourth. Mike Burrows gave up two earned runs in the fifth when Bryan Reynolds struggled to handle a ball in the sun, leading to a triple for Toronto catcher Rob Brantly. Merrifield picked up another hit when Ji Hwan Bae made a terrific diving stop but couldn’t deliver an accurate throw to first in time for the out.
At the plate
Aside from Santana, Jack Suwinski had an eventful day. He walked, stole a base, then singled and was thrown out at second base. Playing left field, Suwinski also lost a ball in the sun that fell in for a single.
McCutchen’s single was his first hit. He had been 0 for 9.
Mixed in with the misplays, Lolo Sanchez smacked a solo homer to open the eighth inning, going down to get a low 96 mph fastball.
Quotable
“If you’re throwing strikes, you’re going to get good results. If you’re ahead in the count, it makes it hard for the hitter. So many good things happen when you throw strikes.” — Keller
Up next
The Pirates head to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota again, this time for an afternoon game against the Orioles. Vince Velasquez gets the ball start. Rich Hill will start against the Tigers at home on Thursday.
Roster update
The Pirates re-assigned seven players to minor league camp: Liover Peguero, Malcolm Nunez, Kyle Nicolas, Jared Jones, Lolo Sanchez, Matt Gorski and Henry Davis. None were a surprise. Peguero, Nunez, Nicolas, Gorski and Davis should start with Triple-A Indianapolis.
Nunez saw action in five Grapefruit Leagues games, going 1 for 8 with two strikeouts. Peguero played in seven games and went 4 for 14 (.286) with four RBIs and three strikeouts.
Nicolas worked three scoreless innings across two outings, allowing a hit, two walks and striking out two. Jones, who touched 99 mph with his fastball, gave the Pirates two scoreless innings and allowed three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Sanchez went 2 for 9 with a homer. Gorski had a hit and an RBI in six atbats, while Davis tallied a single and two RBIs in six at-bats.
The Pirates have 59 players left in camp.