Santana collected his fifth save of the season Friday against Atlanta, allowing two runs on three hits in the ninth inning. He did not record a walk or a strikeout.
It was a low-scoring affair Friday, and Santana was brought in to protect the Pirates' three-run lead in the ninth inning. He was on the back foot immediately after giving up a triple, and after yielding two runs on a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, he was able to close things out by getting Ozzie Albies to fly out to center field. This was far from a convincing performance from Santana, who is competing with David Bednar for saves in Pittsburgh. Santana has a 2.35 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 9:3 K:BB across 15.1 innings this season.