ARLINGTON, TEXAS.- Dominican Alimber Santa was patient, he waited for his moment and baseball rewarded him. It allowed him to show his talent in his first game in the Major Leagues by getting the last six outs of the fifth game in which the Houston Astros collectively gave a no-hitter and no-run game. Still not believing what he experienced, Santa became the second pitcher in Major League history to debut with a no-hitter.
The right-hander, who only needed to throw 24 pitches on the night of May 25 against the Texas Rangers to get two innings, spent the entire series against the Chicago Cubs in the bullpen awaiting his debut. What he dreamed was totally different from what he lived.
“No, it has no comparison. I imagined arriving, throwing strikes and striking out one in my debut, but I never imagined that I would be part of a no-hitter,” Santa said, still not understanding what he was experiencing in his debut as a major league player.
Those who did know what he had done, or helped do, were the Elias Sport Bureau statesman, and the Cuban Yordan Álvarez, his teammate.
According to Elias Sport, Santa became just the second pitcher to participate in a no-hitter during his debut.
“Alvarez told me, ‘You don’t know what you just did, Santa, it’s something historic.’ And it’s true,” said the right-hander, who almost 24 hours after sealing the fifth collective no-hitter in Astros history came to terms with what he had done.
“Until yesterday I didn’t know the magnitude of that (debuting with a no hitter) but since yesterday when I saw the reports and the news I now understand the magnitude of what I have achieved and I am happy,” said the historic right-hander exclusively for DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS.
Family support
A debut in the majors, regardless of the result on the field, normally ends with messages of support from family and closest friends. But this was not just any debut and Alimber said that when he was able to check his phone, he had hundreds of messages. He thanked everyone, but immediately called his closest loved ones.
“I received a lot of messages, but the first people I called were my mother, my father and my girlfriend. My brothers, the close family,” he said. “They were individual calls, even my mother doesn’t know much about baseball and I had to tell her ‘mommy, I did this, I achieved this’ and they understood me little by little.”
And although on the ground family can only be carried in the mind, there is always someone to trust. Catcher Christian Vázquez had already spoken with the new pitcher after his call to the majors and had given him only one piece of advice for his debut: “breathe.”
“Breathe, the debut is a lot of tension. Normally you want to do well to stay here in the Major Leagues, we have all been in that situation. Obviously not like him, in the middle of a no hitter but there is always a first time and he did it very well,” said the masker who immediately approached him to celebrate at the end of the game, although Brandon Nimmo had requested the ABS.
