Tony Santillan's 'in and out' breaking pitch key to his Reds struggles

Terry Francona can’t exactly pinpoint the cause of a month’s worth of struggles for Tony Santillan, but the situation isn’t altogether a mystery either.

While Santillan’s fastball has been improving, his breaking pitch has been “in and out,” the Cincinnati Reds manager assessed of Santillan.

Francona also said the cause of Santillan’s struggles “may be different at different times,” but Santillan said Francona’s critique of the breaking ball was fair.

“Haven’t been able to land (the breaking ball) for strikes when needed, and get behind in counts, and have to be borderline-perfect with the fastball because it’s a one-pitch mix at that point,” Santillan said. “Fastball feels better. It’s getting better. The breaker is just very inconsistent.”

Sure enough, when Santillan took the ball on June 3 in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game against the Kansas City Royals at Great American Ball Park, he stumbled for the reasons he and Francona both described. The result was a 5-2 loss.

With one out and the go-ahead run on base, Santillan pounded Kansas City‘s Michael Massey with 10 straight fastballs, and the 10th was middle-middle. It went over the heart of the plate, in other words, and Massey lined it to right field at more than 100 mph. The Royals took a 3-2 lead.

Tony Santillan, shown in early May, gave up three runs in the ninth inning of what was a 2-2 game in the 5-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals June 3, leaving his season ERA at 6.65. Santillan didn't allow an earned run until his 12th appearance this year.

Tony Santillan, shown in early May, gave up three runs in the ninth inning of what was a 2-2 game in the 5-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals June 3, leaving his season ERA at 6.65. Santillan didn’t allow an earned run until his 12th appearance this year.

The next batter, Nick Loftin, saw Santillan deliver a slider and a slurve to fall behind in the count. The next pitch was another middle-middle fastball, and Loftin’s hit cleared the wall in left field to give the Royals insurance runs. It was Loftin’s first home run of the season.

This was Santillan’s latest stumble, but why does he keep stumbling? Santillan in 2025 was coming off posting a 2.44 ERA with a career-high seven saves in a whopping 80 games pitched. His start to 2026 was even better.

Santillan didn’t allow an earned run until his 12th appearance this year. Through the end of April, all three earned runs he allowed across 14 appearances came in one outing, and it was the wild, rain-soaked April 24 game against the Detroit Tigers that ended with a late-night Nathaniel Lowe walk-off home run.

Santillan’s fortune changed in May. He entered the month with a 1.98 ERA. Following his June 3 outing against the Royals, his ERA had ballooned to 6.65, and he’d allowed at least one earned run in eight of his 12 appearances since May 3. His WAR of -1.1 was worst among relievers in the game.

Santillan was part of Francona’s ideal picture for the bullpen. There were plenty of times in 2025 and early in 2026 when Santillan teamed up with Graham Ashcraft and closer Emilio Pagán to tackle the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Tony Santillan knows where his troubles lie. "Haven't been able to land (the breaking ball) for strikes when needed, and get behind in counts, and have to be borderline-perfect with the fastball because it's a one-pitch mix at that point," he said.

Tony Santillan knows where his troubles lie. “Haven’t been able to land (the breaking ball) for strikes when needed, and get behind in counts, and have to be borderline-perfect with the fastball because it’s a one-pitch mix at that point,” he said.

But Pagán suffered a hamstring strain on May 5 at Wrigley Field, and was only 50%-60% healed when the calendar turned to June. On May 29, Ashcraft hit the 60-day injured list (IL) for a UCL sprain. The next day, Pierce Johnson, another late-inning option, wound up on the 15-day IL.

“We’re at a point where we need some stability so much,” Francona said, “and he’s the guy that − so, we’re gonna have to figure that out. Do we pick our spots a little bit? I mean, we tried to do that before, but with everybody going down, that’s been a little bit more difficult.”

Santillan remains, at least for now. And asked if Santillan was nearing consideration for being sent down to Triple-A, Francona said he’d never discuss such a thing through the media.

The Reds need him to course-correct, and he’s still getting opportunities to fix the problem in MLB, as opposed to the International League.

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