Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana was involved in an incident in which a fan was ejected from the nightcap of a doubleheader against the host Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the Tigers confirmed the fan was removed from Comerica Park after the altercation, which happened by the visitors’ bullpen and caught on video.
Santana, who said the altercation happened around the seventh inning, leapt at the fan in one video in an attempt to land a punch. Another video’s angle shows Santana pointing at the fan before jumping near the bullpen wall to take a swing, which did not land.
“You guys know me and know my temper,” Santana told reporters via an interpreter after the game. “I’m a calm person. They just crossed the line a few times. I would like to leave it like that.”
“I’m still gathering facts,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I don’t have enough information to really comment on that at all.”
Santana came in with the score tied in the ninth inning, then returned to the game following a 75-minute rain delay and recorded one out. Pittsburgh won
8-4 in 10 innings to split the doubleheader.
In the 10th inning, another situation involving Santana’s teammate Tommy Pham occurred, with security removing fans who apparently heckled the veteran outfielder, per The Athletic. Pham did not hold a postgame interview with reporters.
“I didn’t see it,” Kelly said. “I guess fans were saying something to him, and he didn’t take kindly to it. Security did a great job of de-escalating that situation pretty quick.”