In the second game of a doubleheader in Detroit on Thursday, Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana was involved in an altercation with a fan in the visitors’ bullpen. Santana, who is having a career year for the Pirates, may soon face discipline from the league for his part in the incident. The episode was just another ongoing development in a disappointing season for the 30-46 Pittsburgh club. Here are the details on the incident and how it seems apropos for the Pirates’ ill-fated 2025 season.
As you can see in the fan-captured video above, Santana took offense to something that a fan near the bullpen railing said. The reliever pointed at him and then came over and took a swing at him. A security guard in the bullpen got on his radio and had the fan removed. A coach steered Santana back down into a tunnel, and Santana would eventually pitch in the game. After a rain delay, the Pirates would go on to win 8-4 and split the doubleheader with the Tigers. Here is another view of the incident shared by a fan on X, taken from a different angle.
The league will surely review this altercation, and Dennis Santana will most likely be fined and suspended. The last similar incident to this, involving Angel third baseman Anthony Rendon, resulted in an undisclosed fine and a five-game suspension, which got knocked down to four games on appeal. Rendon also took a swipe at a fan and missed.
The Santana incident is a perfect representation of the Pirates’ bad luck this season. Santana was having his best season as a pro, sporting a 1.72 ERA over 32 relief appearances. The Pirates’ bullpen has been one of the few bright spots for the team this season. Losing Santana for a few games will hurt, but the incident fits right in with how the season has gone for the club.
Missing Santana is especially rough considering that Pittsburgh is already without veteran relievers Tim Mayza (2.89 ERA) and Justin Lawrence (0.79 ERA). Mayza has been on the injured list since April 19 with a shoulder/lat issue. Lawrence has been dealing with elbow inflammation and has been on the IL since April 23.
The Pittsburgh Pirates could have had one of the most promising starting rotations in the National League this season. Paul Skenes has been dominant in his starts, pitching to a 1.85 ERA while striking out 106 batters in 102 innings. Unfortunately, he only has a 4-6 record to show for his efforts, thanks to a lackluster Pirate offense.
That rotation has had to go without two more promising young fireballers this season. Righty Jared Jones will miss 10-to-12 months due to UCL surgery after an injury in spring training. Another righty, Johan Oviedo, still has not returned from having Tommy John surgery in December of 2023. A lat injury has slowed his progress, and he is not expected back until July.
The Pirates offense has been atrocious this season. They are dead last in runs scored, 29th in home runs, and 28th in batting average. The team had hoped that the addition of Spencer Horwitz from Toronto would add some pop to the lineup, but Horwitz has missed all but 27 games with a wrist injury and has just one homer. Young superstar Oneil Cruz leads the team in homers (13) and steals (25), but he is hitting only .218. Two-time All-Star Bryan Reynolds is hitting just .222 and is on pace for a career-high 173 strikeouts.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a disaster right now. Don’t expect the May 8 firing of manager Derek Shelton to change much in that regard. The problem has been more of a scouting/drafting issue than a coaching one. Shelton, and now Don Kelly, can only manage the talent they have on the field. The Pirates have done well evaluating pitching, but they have failed miserably everywhere else.
Most of the Pirates’ top positional prospects have not panned out at the big league level. Ke’Bryan Hayes has been an excellent defender, but his offense flamed out after one decent year. He is signed to be the club’s third baseman through at least the 2029 season. Henry Davis, the overall number one draft pick by Pittsburgh in 2021, has hit just .190 over parts of three MLB seasons. The 6’7″ Cruz has a ton of power and speed, but he may well strike out over 200 times this season. To make things worse, Cruz was not good at shortstop, and he now looks lost in center field.
These aren’t the team’s only recent failures. Jack Suwinski, acquired from the Padres when the Pirates traded away Adam Frazier, has shown some power and speed. However, much like Oneil Cruz, Suwinski strikes out way too much, and he has a career batting average of just .203 at the major league level. Jared Triolo (.231), Endy Rodriguez (.210), and Enmanuel Valdez (.230) have similar contact issues. All three have more strikeouts than hits at the major league level. The list goes on and on.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are wasting excellent starting pitching because they cannot draft and develop hitters right now. For a team that ranks 26th in payroll, they have to make up for that in young controllable talent. They aren’t going to sign big free agents or trade for huge names. Until the Pirates can field a team to support Paul Skenes and company, they are going to have irate fans.
That frustration eventually finds its way to the players, and then you start seeing incidents like the Dennis Santana one, where it just becomes hard to contain things after a while. It is tough to be a good player on a bad team. Things get harder when bad luck strikes and players get hurt. If things seem bad now, though, wait until the July trade deadline when the Pirates will inevitably dump a few veterans like Santana, Andrew Heaney, David Bednar, or even Bryan Reynolds. It will be really hard for the fans and players to hold things in then.
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