Santiago (4-4) surrendered two hits, an earned run and two walks over six innings in Wednesday's 10-2 victory over the Twins. He struck out five.
The veteran southpaw rebounded from a string of abbreviated and mostly poor efforts to produce his best start since May 15 versus the Mariners. Santiago had been chased in the second inning by the Indians in his last trip to the mound, giving up six runs (five earned) and seven hits. Two starts prior, he was out after 2.1 innings with six runs (five earned) on his ledger, and he'd yielded four earned runs in just 2.2 innings in the appearance before that. It was a different Santiago Wednesday, as he threw 62 of 99 pitches for strikes, and benefited from some run support as the game went on. Encouragingly, he also stayed away from the long ball for the third straight outing, after giving up 14 round-trippers in his first 11 starts of 2016. He'll look to continue the positive momentum when he faces the Astros next Tuesday.