Ervin Santana may have missed pitching the Braves’ home-opener by one day, but as far as introductions go, Wednesday night’s was hard to beat.
The former All-Star pitcher for the Angels who signed a one-year $14.1 million contract to rescue the Braves from a rash of elbow injuries pitched eight shutout innings to in a 4-3 win over the Mets.
How do you do?
“That’s what he was signed for, to go out there and dominate and that’s what he did tonight,” Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, who could enjoy the moment only after surviving a shaky ninth inning in which he and Jordan Walden gave up three runs.
As wild a finish as the game had – with Kimbrel stranding the tying run at third – it came in sharp contrast to the start, when Santana was in complete control.
Santana threw his first 20 pitches for strikes, something Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and some of the best command pitchers of this era never did. According to Stats Inc., Santana is the only starter to begin a game with 20 or more strikes since 1988. Only Roy Halladay has come close in that time, opening a game against the Mets with 18 straight strikes on April 30, 2011.
Not that Santana felt such a start coming on, warming up for his first ever game at Turner Field.
“In the bullpen I was all over the place,” Santana said. “But when I stepped (inside) the lines, I focused and just threw strikes.”
Santana threw 28 of his first 29 pitches for strikes through three innings. And the one ball? It was borderline, at Travis d’Arnaud’s knees. But umpire Mark Ripperger must have needed to give his left arm something to do.
Santana didn’t go 1-0 on a batter until David Wright, 12 batters into the game. He didn’t reach double digits in balls until the fifth inning, 49 pitches into his night.
Santana threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 27 batters he faced through his eight innings, allowing only three hits. He coaxed 11 groundball outs and only two flyouts.
He was as in control of any game he’s ever pitched in his nine years in the American League, including the no-hitter he pitched for the Angels against the Indians on July 27, 2011.
“This is better than the no-hitter,” Santana said. “When you throw strikes all the time, it’s better. That means that you’re in control of the game.”
Jason Heyward got Santana a 1-0 lead to work with after launching the fourth leadoff homer of his career to snap an 0-for-22 streak, working an 11-pitch at-bat against hard-throwing Mets right-hander Zack Wheeler.
Santana then set Heyward up again with a single of his own – only his fifth career base hit and first as a National Leaguer – in the fifth inning. With runners at the corners, Heyward followed with an RBI single, one of his three hits on the night, to make it 2-0. Freddie Freeman doubled the score to 4-0 in the fifth, with an opposite field two-run double with the bases loaded.
Santana gave up only two singles and a double to Daniel Murphy, walked none and struck out six. He was spared any further damage after Heyward made a diving catch in right center to take extra bases from David Wright in the sixth.
That was the second defensive highlight of the game behind Santana, who got his first up-close look at Andrelton Simmons’ skills at shortstop. Simmons went down on his backside to field d’Arnaud’s grounder in the second inning and threw him out at first after rising up to his left knee.
“I saw a play that he made last year too, kind of similar too,” Santana said. “It’s tremendous when you have Simmons and Heyward, two Gold Glove guys.”
About the only thing working against Santana Wednesday night was his pitch count. Even before he headed out for the eighth inning, at only 78 pitches, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez and pitching coach Roger McDowell had decided it would be his last.
“It’s your first outing and next thing you know, you’re (pushing) a hundred pitches,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want to risk that.”
So Santana’s night was over after 88 pitches.
Walden walked the leadoff batter in the ninth and left two on with one out for Kimbrel. Kimbrel walked Curtis Granderson on five pitches to load the bases. Then after striking out Lucas Duda, Kimbrel gave up back-to-back run scoring singles –a two-run single by Juan Lagares and an RBI hit by d’Arnaud, to allow the Mets to pull within 4-3.
Kimbrel restored a little order by striking out Ruben Tejada for his fourth save in four chances this season.
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