Pirates' Dennis Santana suspended 4 games for incident with fan in Detroit, will appeal

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun 20, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — Pirates reliever Dennis Santana has been suspended four games for his “aggressive conduct towards a fan,” Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president for on-field operations, announced Friday. Santana has elected to appeal the suspension and is eligible to play while the appeal is heard.

The suspension stems from an incident on Thursday in Detroit. Santana, while in the bullpen, is shown on video having an animated discussion with a few fans leaning over the railing. Santana jumped up and took a swipe at one of the fans.

Speaking to reporters in Detroit on Thursday, Santana expressed remorse. This is the first known fan-related incident Santana has had since debuting in 2018.

“You guys know me, and I’m a calm demeanor type of person,” Santana said, with assistant coach Stephen Morales interpreting. “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.

“They crossed the line too many times,” he reiterated later on. “It doesn’t justify my actions, but it was too much.”

Santana said the incident happened around the seventh inning. He was brought in to pitch the ninth inning and got an out before the game went into a rain delay. The Pirates went on to beat the Tigers 8-4 in 10 innings.

After Thursday’s game, Pirates manager Don Kelly said he didn’t know much about the incident and was still gathering information. He spoke more about it before Friday’s game.

“Everybody in here knows Dennis Santana and how cool, calm, collected he is and what type of guy he is,” Kelly said. “I think that, as a player, looking back at my career, when you go on the road, you expect ribbing. You expect certain things to happen from a fan’s standpoint, but there’s a certain line that you can go up to. And from my understanding, the line was crossed yesterday.”

Kelly didn’t condone Santana’s actions, adding he knows Santana regrets it. “We’re going to move forward from it,” Kelly added.

Santana has been the Pirates’ most consistent leverage arm this season. In 32 games, he has a 2-1 record, five saves and a 1.72 ERA. He’s allowed seven runs in 31 1/3 innings.

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