Dennis Santana invokes MLB legend in odd response to Pirates-Yankees incident

Dennis Santana apparently isn’t interested in apologizing for Monday night’s dust-up with José Caballero.

And when asked whether he wanted an apology from the New York Yankees utility man — or planned to offer one himself — the Pittsburgh Pirates reliever reached pretty deep into the baseball history books for his response.

“Do you see Pedro Martínez apologize?” Santana said.

Well, alright then.

Santana’s answer was an odd but memorable postscript to the benches-clearing incident during the eighth inning of Pittsburgh’s 8-5 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Caballero, who has already drawn criticism this season for waiting until the last possible moment to engage with pitchers, appeared to still be looking down when Santana started his delivery with nine seconds remaining on the pitch clock. Home plate umpire Paul Clemons stopped play and gestured toward his eyes, signaling that Santana needed to wait until Caballero was looking at him.

Santana eventually got the better of the matchup, inducing Caballero to ground into an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play. But as the rest of their teammates trotted toward their respective dugouts, Santana and Caballero exchanged words and began walking toward one another. Santana looked particularly heated and needed to be restrained by Rafael Flores Jr. and Henry Davis. Both benches and bullpens emptied, though no punches were thrown and nobody was ejected.

Dennis Santana frustration boils over in heated exchange with Yankees' José Caballero

Caballero may be irritating pitchers with his routine, but he is technically operating within the rules. MLB clarified the issue in June after Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider publicly complained about the same tactic last month: Hitters must be alert and looking at the pitcher when the clock reaches eight seconds.

That makes Santana’s frustration understandable, but ultimately misplaced. There’s also probably more behind it than one annoying at-bat.

Santana has endured a brutal season after becoming one of Pittsburgh’s most dependable relievers over the previous two years. He entered Monday with a 6.05 ERA in 44 appearances, with 21 walks and only 37 strikeouts over 41.2 innings. He has already surrendered eight home runs after allowing only seven across 109 appearances and 114.2 innings over the previous two seasons.

Monday at least provided something positive. Santana worked around a single and produced just his fourth clean inning in eight July appearances, two days after surrendering a walk-off home run in Cleveland.

Maybe the Caballero confrontation becomes nothing more than an amusing footnote. But if Santana wants to invoke Pedro Martínez, the Pirates could certainly use him pitching a little more like the dominant version of himself again, too.

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