On the same mound that Kris Medlen walked off 12 days earlier while clinching his elbow in pain, the pitcher who signed to replace him made his Braves debut Thursday.
He pitched only two innings, but Ervin Santana provided glimpses of why the Braves felt lucky that he was still unsigned when starters Medlen and Brandon Beachy sustained season-ending elbow injuries in consecutive games March 9-10.
Eight days after signing a one-year, $14.1 million free-agent contract, Santana was charged with two hits and one run in a 7-6 loss to the Mets at Tradition Field. He threw 14 strikes in 22 pitches.
“I thought it was a good outing,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who plans to work Santana into the rotation during the second week of the regular season. “He hasn’t pitched in a while, came to camp a little behind, and he did a nice job. You can tell he’s a professional. His secondary pitches were really good, especially the second inning.”
Santana’s fastball hovered in the 93-94 mph range in the first inning (topping out at 95 mph) and 90-91 mph in the second. He threw some sharp sliders, a few good sinkers, and a couple of quality change-ups. Santana was pleased.
“First outing in the National League, it’s very good,” said the former American League All-Star, who has a no-hitter on his resume and was 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 211 innings last season for the Royals. “I’m very happy with the performance today.”
He might’ve gotten through two innings unscathed if Eric Young Jr. hadn’t surprised him by dropping down a bunt to start the first inning. Santana ran to field it near the first-base line and bounced a throw to first (replays appeared to show Young was out). Ruben Tejada followed with a single before David Wright’s sacrifice fly.
Young induced an inning-ending double-play grounder by Curtis Granderson and pitched a perfect second inning.
Santana will make one more Grapefruit League start and then presumably pitch in at least two minor league games.
Gonzalez said the Braves could add him to the regular-season rotation as soon as April 9, in the eighth game, but are more likely to wait until April 12, the 11th game and the first time they need a fifth starter. They want to make sure he has time to build arm strength.
“I just take it one day at a time and see what happens,” Santana said.
With Medlen and Beachy out, and Mike Minor and Gavin Floyd not expected to join the rotation until late April and early May, respectively, the Braves will open the season with a rotation of Julio Teheran, Freddy Garcia, second-year left-hander Alex Wood and rookie David Hale, probably in that order.
Teheran is in line to start opening day, which is March 31 at Milwaukee. The Braves are expected to announce that decision Friday.
Once they get Minor and Floyd back from the disabled list, the Braves could move Hale and another of those pitchers from the opening-day rotation to the bullpen.
Etc.: Justin and B.J. Upton had two hits apiece and three RBIs between them Thursday. Justin drove in two runs and had a potential first-inning homer taken away by center fielder Juan Lagares' leaping catch. Triple-A first baseman Ernesto Mejia was next up and hit a two-run homer. … Five of seven Mets runs came against minor leaguers David Bromberg and Eric Pfisterer, who recorded two outs apiece. They were among those brought from Braves minor league camp to fill out the travel roster.
