DETROIT – Pirates reliever Dennis Santana had an altercation that escalated to him taking an attempted swipe at a fan at Comerica Park Thursday after the fan “crossed the line,” the pitcher claimed.
According to Santana, the incident happened in the seventh inning of Game 2 of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Tigers. Words were exchanged between Santana, who was in the bullpen, and the fan in the bleachers, and with security close by, Santana made a leap to try to reach the fan.
“You guys know me and I’m a calm-demeanor type of person,” Santana said, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales. “I’ve never had any issues with any of the teams that I’ve played for and I guess the guy crossed the line a few times. I would not like to go into it.”
Santana declined to disclose what the fan said. After the incident, Santana was separated from the fan by bullpen coach Miguel Perez and bullpen catcher Raúl Hernández.
Santana pitched one-third of an inning in the ninth before rain forced the game to be delayed.
Pirates manager Don Kelly said he was still “gathering the facts” about the incident when he spoke to the media and didn’t have further comment. Santana said afterwards that he and Kelly had talked and that “I told [him] I regret what I did.”
Santana has not had an incident with fans over his eight-year Major League career and was not the only Pirate to take issue with comments made by Tigers fans Thursday night. In the top of the 10th inning, a fan was ejected for what an MLB spokesperson deemed "inappropriate comments” that sparked an incident with Tommy Pham.
Pham was in the on deck circle when the comments were made and the two parties exchanged words, with home plate umpire Dexter Kelley, Kelly and the batter, Oneil Cruz, getting between the two. The fans in question were sitting behind home plate.
“I guess fans were saying something to him and he didn't take kindly to it,” Kelly said. “Security did a great job at deescalating that pretty quick."
Tigers catcher Jake Rogers claimed, “I heard it all,” regarding what the fans said, but opted not to share and instead let Pham decide if that information should go public. Pham was not available to comment postgame.
“I don't know if it was towards him or what, but I think Tommy thought it was,” Rogers said. “Tommy felt like something was towards him."
Time will tell if Santana’s actions will result in punishment from the league. He has never been suspended before in his Major League career.
“They crossed the line too many times,” Santana said. “It doesn’t justify my actions, but it was too much.”