NEW YORK - Dennis Santana’s anger spilled out Monday night, and the Pirates would love nothing more than for that edge to become the turning point in his season.
The flashpoint came in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium, when Santana barked at Yankees shortstop José Caballero for taking too long to step into the batter’s box. Santana later said the outburst had nothing to do with the way his year has gone.
Maybe so. But it’s hard to separate the moment from a season that has gone sideways for the right-hander.
“It’s been a tough season,” Santana said. “I know I’m not doing well. But that doesn’t have nothing to do with [Monday].
“[Monday] was a good day. I got a clean inning and look what happened.
“It's baseball. You're gonna be good.
You're gonna be bad. You just gotta keep working, stay healthy, and you're gonna have the results.”
The Pirates dropped an 8-5 decision to the Yankees after Braxton Ashcraft turned in the roughest start of his young career, and Pittsburgh never answered after New York’s second four-run burst. But Santana’s night stood out for a different reason. The benches cleared, the moment got heated, and the bigger question became whether the fire can actually help him reset.
Because the Pirates need the old Dennis Santana back in a hurry.
Over the last two seasons, he was one of their most reliable relief arms outside of David Bednar, putting up a 2.28 ERA across 109 games and 114 2/3 innings while walking 28 and striking out 110. This year has been a different story entirely: a 6.05 ERA in 44 appearances and 41 2/3 innings, with 21 walks and only 37 strikeouts. He has already given up eight home runs in 2026, one more than he allowed in those first 109 games combined.
Monday did at least give him a small positive. Santana got Caballero to ground into an inning-ending double play for his fourth clean inning in eight outings this month. That came two days after he surrendered a walkoff homer in Cleveland.
“He's a competitor, man,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I think you saw that [Monday]. Found a way to work through that single.
“It gets frustrating, especially for him, not having the success that he's had. He's had two really great years for us. Just seems like the command, when he gets hit, it's balls that are over the plate that don't necessarily end up where he wants them to end up.”
The trouble has shown up most clearly with Santana’s slider. A year ago, opposing hitters managed just a .157 average and .283 slugging percentage against it.
This season, those numbers have jumped to .273 and .455. Baseball Savant also shows the pitch’s run value falling from 7 in 2025 to -3 this season.
He has leaned on his changeup more than twice as often, but hitters have done damage there too, batting .280 with a .680 slugging percentage. The swing-and-miss is still there in spots, and his fastball velocity has held up, but the bigger issue has been location. Santana is throwing strikes in the zone just 44.4% of the time, down from 50.2% and 54.9% over the past two seasons, while his career-high 9.3% meatball rate has left too many pitches in dangerous spots.
“When you miss your location in the big leagues, they make you pay,” Santana said.
He said his teammates have helped keep him steady through the rough patch. He also brought up Barry Bonds as a reminder that even the best players go through hard stretches, though the point landed more as a broader baseball truth than a direct comparison.
The Pirates have felt every bit of Santana’s decline. He was a major part of the bullpen the past two years, and when he’s off, the whole relief group feels it.
There have been brief signs of a turnaround. From May 26 through June 28, Santana posted a 3.46 ERA in 13 games and allowed only one home run. But June has gone the other direction, with a 12.28 ERA and four home runs allowed in just 7 1/3 innings.
He still flashes the stuff. He still flashes the intensity.
On Monday, the emotion was obvious. Now the Pirates need the results to match it.
“I've got great teammates, and we have a great staff,” Santana said. “It's baseball.
If I have a bad day in baseball, I don't take that to my house. Because this is a game.
Life is not baseball.
“Like I say, even Barry Bonds, all the Hall of Famers, they have bad seasons, and they keep doing well. That's why they're Hall of Famers. So, we just gotta keep working, and things are gonna be good.”
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