Ervin Santana christened his Twins career with a brilliant no-decision against Kansas City and presumably shuttered his first season in Minnesota with an unmerited loss Friday night against the American League Central champs.
Santana’s 2015 narrative is slightly more complicated than the 7-5 record, 4.00 earned-run average and confidence he carries into the winter.
Barring a Byzantine journey to him pitching on short rest in an unprecedented Game 164 Tuesday, he is finished, ineligible for postseason play.
He will never whitewash the steroids suspension that cold-cocked the Twins their penultimate day of spring training and muted Santana for the first half of the season. But in the last six weeks, the right-hander yielded big-game returns on the club’s $55 million investment, emerging as the stalwart of a scrambled staff racked by injury and boosted by surprising saviors.
Fans at Target Field, crushed by Minnesota’s 3-1 loss, dispatched Santana with a rousing ovation in the eighth inning, his subtle hat tip essentially sealing the vault on the whole sordid episode.
“It was pretty good,” Santana said afterward.
Alcides Escobar, with a single to start the eighth, was one of four leadoff men to reach against Santana, who bobbed and weaved without absorbing a true knockout blow.
His fate was left in the hands of the imploding Glen Perkins, who allowed a 400-foot wall-banging double to Ben Zobrist and Mike Moustakas’ RBI single that punctuated Kansas City’s win.
Santana allowed four hits and dragged the Twins into the late innings despite their inability to get a hit for four-plus innings against Royals starter Chris Young, who dealt more junk than Fred Sanford.
“Ervin did his job; there’s no doubt about that,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor.
Santana returned from his 80-game suspension July 5 at Kansas City and stood tall against the defending AL champions, holding the Royals to two runs and three hits over eight innings.
He went on to throw consecutive road gems against the Athletics and Angels, his former team, before falling into a funk.
However, since his last loss Aug. 19 at Yankee Stadium, Santana reeled off a stretch of seven consecutive starts of at least seven innings, never allowing more than two runs in any outing.
“I did what I expected to do in the second half,” he said. “Just go out there and give all I’ve got. That’s what I did.”
Santana was wily enough to strand five Royals base runners.
In the second, Eric Hosmer hacked a first-pitch fastball to the top of the scoreboard in right-center field for a leadoff double. Santana promptly struck out Alex Rios before getting Christian Colon to pop out and former Twin Drew Butera to bounce out harmlessly to shortstop.
Another leadoff double by No. 9 hitter Jarrod Dyson in the third proved more problematic. Dyson was bunted to third and scored on a fielder’s-choice grounder to first by Hosmer, who battled Santana through a full count before knocking in the tying run.
Santana’s only other blemish was his eighth-inning single to Escobar, who came around for the winning run against Perkins.
“I told them to give me the leadoff hitter,” he said about his dugout chat with Molitor and pitching coach Neil Allen.
“He got a base hit so he took me out. Good thing they have a lot of confidence in me.”
Santana struck out 82 against just 36 walks over 18 starts. He will be 33 years old when spring training opens in four months. He has three years remaining on the richest free-agent contract in team history.
His half-baked season is essentially over. His self-inflicted wound a fully healed scar. Santana’s slate is clean.
“I’m sure it’s been challenging for him but he’s found ways to move on,” Molitor said. “He’s been embraced here. I think people have put things behind him. He’ll come back hungry and ready to go.”
Follow Brian Murphy at twitter.com/murphPPress. Murphy talks Vikings with Chad Hartman at 2:35 p.m. Mondays on WCCO-830 and 9:30 a.m. Fridays with Mackey and Judd on 1500-ESPN.
