Shockwaves were sent around the MLB world on Thursday after videos began to spread online of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dennis Santana attempting to punch a Detroit Tigers fan in the face who was in the stands.
Luckily, Santana was unable to make contact with the fan, but it was still an incredibly ugly incident for both the pitcher and the fan involved. After Thursday's game, the Pirates pitcher revealed what led to the altercation with the Tigers fan.
"You guys know me — I’m a calm demeanor type of person. I’ve never had any issues for any of the teams I’ve played for. This guy crossed the line a few times.
He crossed the line, and I’d like to leave it at that. I’ve never had anything like this happen in my eight years in baseball."
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dennis Santana says Detroit Tigers fan "crossed the line"
While Santana didn't share exactly what was said to him by the Detroit fan, it was clearly something that was enough for the pitcher to consider physical violence with him.
Dennis Santana is swinging at fans from the bullpen pic.twitter.com/cah20Ohtis
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Could it have been handled better by Santana? Sure, but that fan also played a very significant role in the situation. Thankfully, the Tigers fan was ejected from the stadium after everything that took place on Thursday.
Interestingly enough, Santana actually went on to appear in the game shortly after the altercation. He took the mound in the ninth inning, but only pitched to one batter before the game was delayed to rain.
If Santana could go back and re-do the situation again, it probably would've been best for him to let security inside the stadium handle the issue with the fan and have him removed. And perhaps that was the plan, but whatever the Detroit fan said was clearly enough for Santana to want to handle the incident himself.
It was an ugly situation and both parties involved should be thankful that no one was injured as a result of the altercation. Santana shouldn't be swinging at people in the stands, but fans shouldn't be yelling things at players that "cross the line" either.