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Halos' Santana wins duel with Verlander
Righty pitches into ninth; Figgins' great catch seals it
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com
06/05/09 11:35 PM ET
DETROIT -- Nursing a nose bleed all night long, Ervin Santana managed to find his All-Star form on Friday night at Comerica Park -- and it was a good thing for the Angels.Tigers ace Justin Verlander was working on the same high ground, creating eight innings of nothing but zeros on both sides before the Halos broke through in the ninth on a pivotal Juan Rivera at-bat and held on for a 2-1 decision in front of 31,187 at Comerica Park.
"That's one of the best starts I've ever seen from Ervin Santana," Rivera said through Jose Mota's translation. "I felt like he threw nine innings. It was good to see him out there getting to the ninth."
Rivera's RBI single in the ninth against flame-throwing Fernando Rodney (0-1) came after singles by Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales and was followed by an RBI grounder by Howard Kendrick with the bases loaded.
Santana was one strike away from his third career shutout when Magglio Ordonez lashed an inside fastball to right for an RBI single following Josh Anderson's one-out triple to the right-center gap.
"That was a good pitch, where I wanted it," Santana said of his 109th and final delivery of a breakthrough performance. "Coming from an injury, I don't expect to be perfect."
Recovering from a sprained right elbow that cost him about six starts, Santana had been roughed up for 15 runs on 19 hits across only 6 1/3 innings of his previous two starts.
Manager Mike Scioscia stuck with him and was rewarded with a performance worthy of the Santana who graced the 2008 American League All-Star team.
"He pitched to his capabilities," Scioscia said. "This is a big step forward to pitch this deep against an offense like that -- and almost get a complete-game shutout. The kid battled. He pitched the whole game with a nosebleed, too."
The last out was the responsibility of closer Brian Fuentes, who retired Curtis Granderson on a twisting fly ball snatched by third baseman Chone Figgins out of the crowd, leaving runners stranded at the corners.
"The wind was blowing ... and the ball came back," Figgins said, having taken a blow to the upper lip from a fan while securing the fly ball that gave Fuentes his 15th save. "I don't know what happened, really. I just know I was close to the fence.
"I split my lip, and Aybar came over and caught me."
Granderson is in the midst of a .412 stretch with a nine-game hitting streak.
"I was waiting to see what was going to happen in the ninth," Fuentes said, having warmed up before Santana went out to start the inning with 90 pitches already thrown. "He was still throwing strikes. Maybe fatigue set in at 100 pitches, and they had to get him out of there.
"It was good to see him throw well again. He had a couple of rough outings, and he wanted to show everybody he's OK. Tonight he definitely did that."
Striking out seven hitters while walking two and yielding six hits, Santana was beaming after his fifth outing. The nose bleed that he attributed to climate changes, surfacing as he warmed up, was gone.
"This was better -- way better," Santana said. "My location, everything was down."
Tigers manager Jim Leyland was impressed with Santana's full complement of deliveries.
"He wasn't throwing quite as hard as you've seen him in the past, but he uses his offspeed stuff very well," Leyland said. "When he gets behind, he can throw something else besides a fastball for a strike. He was close to himself without quite as much velocity."
After Hunter opened the ninth with a full-count single, his second hit, Morales sent him to third with a single through the right side.
Rivera quickly fell behind in the count, 0-2, and began fouling off high fastballs and changeups. Rivera finally slashed a ball through a drawn-in infield, clapping his hands as Hunter scored. Kendrick's roller to short with the bases loaded produced the run that proved decisive.
"It was one that put us ahead in the ninth inning," Rivera said when asked about his uncharacteristic display of emotion. "It was a big at-bat, not just for me but the whole team.
"My idea was to go up and have [Rodney] elevate something in the strike zone and [then] hit it in front of me, something in the air. I saw 98 [mph on the gun]. He was throwing hard."
Santana was tough when it counted. Ordonez and Gerald Laird led off the fifth and sixth, respectively, with doubles and were stranded. Jeff Larish's double-play grounder ended a first-and-third situation in the fifth, and Figgins went to his knees to stab Placido Polanco's grounder to end the sixth with two men in scoring position.
Since the Angels reached Verlander for seven earned runs in five innings on April 22, he has yielded a total of seven earned runs in 56 1/3 innings.
"We've seen [Roy] Halladay and Verlander on this trip," Scioscia said. "I don't know if there are two better pitchers in baseball than those two guys."
Scioscia had three questions about Santana before his fifth start, involving his velocity, breaking ball and stamina.
"You could not have answered any questions with a more resounding 'yes' than what Ervin brought to the field tonight," Scioscia said.
Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
