Sergio Santos, pitching April 11 at the Dome and earning his first save against the Red Sox, made just six trips to the mound for Toronto in 2012.
It is ironic that news of Santos' demise comes as the Jays wrap up their season series against Cleveland. It was against the Indians that Santos made his Jays debut in the season opener April 5. He was in line for the save opportunity in the 16-inning marathon but lefty Luis Perez decided to return to the mound to start the frame and got the first out before finally getting the hook from manager John Farrell. Santos walked a man but did get the final two outs to preserve the victory. His next outing on April 7 resulted in a blown save when he surrendered a game-tying home run to Asdrubal Cabrera but the Jays would prevail with a 7-4 victory over the Tribe. His lowest moment came in the April 9 home opener when he yielded three runs in two-thirds of an inning as Boston pulled out a 4-2 victory.
Santos redeemed himself in the series finale two days later when he bailed out lefty Ricky Romero and picked up his first save in a Toronto uniform April 11. He stranded runners at second and third by retiring the only two hitters he faced, striking out Kevin Youkilis and getting David Ortiz to ground out to end the game. Santos worked a scoreless frame against Tampa Bay April 17 to finish up a 7-3 win over the Rays at the Dome. His 2012 finale was in Kansas City April 20 as he gave up a run but collected the save in a 4-3 win.
Santos pitched just five innings with the Jays and posted an earned run average of 9.00 with a K/BB ratio of 4-4. As Bauxite 85bluejay pointed out in the previous thread, has Chicago GM Kenny Williams pulled another fast one on the Jays? You may recall the infamous Mike Sirotka-David Wells deal in which Sirotka never pitched again after the lefty's shoulder turned out to be toast. Wells did not exactly enjoy a stellar 2001 season with the Pale Hose as he went 5-7 with a 4.47 ERA. Heck, he even lost to Joey Hamilton during his lone appearance against the Jays that season. Meantime, righty Nestor Molina, who went the other way to Chicago in the Santos deal, has been struggling in the minors with a 4-8 record and a 5.01 ERA this season. The majority of those stats were compiled at Double-A Birmingham. He had one start at Triple-A Charlotte, where he was torched for six runs over four innings.
Hopefully, Santos will be ready for 2013 and recapture the form of 2011 when he racked up 30 saves for the White Sox.