April 8th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka You get the call late Saturday night in Oklahoma City: “Be at Coors Field in the morning.”
It’s the call you’ve been waiting, hoping and praying for. You’ve just been called up to the big leagues.
Less than 24 hours later your standing on the mound at said Coors Field in front of 41,232 screaming fans, most of whom are hoping and praying that you fail.
You do not.
Instead, you toss 2.2 innings in relief, allowing only one run on two hits, while walking one and striking out two, to preserve a 12-6 win and series sweep over the Colorado Rockies for your teammates.
Welcome to the Dodgers, Dennis Santana.
Santana’s 2019 debut, the second major league appearance for the soon-to-be (on April 12) 23-year-old San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic native, was not without its moments. On his very first pitch of the night, he plunked Rockies veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds in the back; obviously the result of being just a bit amped up. He then settled down and tossed 28 strikes of his 42 total pitches, striking out Rockies center fielder Ian Desmond and perennial All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado … on three pitches, no less.
(Video capture courtesy of ESPN)
The lone run allowed by Santana came in the bottom of the ninth inning, which began with a leadoff triple by Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia, followed by a sacrifice fly to right field by (wait for it…) Mark Reynolds. Santana then retired the Rockies in order on ground outs by Desmond and Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta to Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager and third baseman Justin Turner respectively to lock down the win and series sweep.
Although Santana pitched well in his season debut on Sunday night, his stay with the Dodgers will most likely be a short one. He was called up late Saturday night to replace struggling right-hander Brock Stewart, who himself began the 2019 season as a replacement for injured Dodgers left-handers Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill, both of whom are expected to return to action within the next week or two. When that happens, current Dodgers starters Ross Stripling and Julio Urias will move to the bullpen. When that happens, Santana and one other current reliever will be reassigned, presumably to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Then again, if the popular Jose Lima-like right-hander continues to perform as he did on Sunday night, it might be someone else who goes.
Stay tuned…
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It really looked and felt good to watch Santana’s performance last night for the high flying N.L Champs. Imagine if Bellinger could keep this up for most of the season? Wow he looks great.
I keep on saying it, Santana’s long-term future with the Dodgers should be in a relief role. Doesn’t truly have the body type in my eyes to keep masquerading as a starter, but as a multi-inning reliever (or possibly Jansen’s future successor in that closer role???) he could really be a potential key piece to this current Dodger roster down the road. He’s already blown past wildly immature Yadier Alvarez on the minor-league depth chart so that pretty much settles it for me.
And yeah, third MLB season in and Bellinger finally appears to have it all figured out now. I wonder if that’s the influence of the new hitting coach at work there, heh. Not only that, he’s already tapping into what was previously his most seldom-used tool: HIS SPEED. My goodness, he might actually be the fastest player on the club at the moment…
He is the fastest player on the Dodgers.
Year after year, Baez make shit, why this guy is a Dodger year afetr year