3:56 pm: Seattle manager Scott Servais confirmed (via Jesse Rogers of ESPN) that Santiago was deemed to have used a foreign substance but claimed Cuzzi’s judgment was incorrect. “He had rosin all over himself. Phil thought he had sticky stuff on his glove,” Servais said. “There is no sticky stuff in the glove.” Rosin, of course, is permitted under the league’s substance policy.
2:19 pm: Mariners left-hander Héctor Santiago was ejected from today’s game against the White Sox by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi after a between-innings foreign substance inspection, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post was among those to relay. Santiago’s glove was confiscated. (Ben Verlander of Fox Sports provides video of the incident).
Assuming Santiago’s ejection was the result of umpires detecting a foreign substance, he’ll be subject to a ten-day suspension under the terms of Major League Baseball’s new enforcement of the prohibition against ball doctoring. He would become the first player to be disciplined since MLB’s crackdown went into effect on Monday. The Mariners would not be permitted to replace him on the active or 40-man rosters during the course of any suspension.
The 33-year-old Santiago first appeared in the majors in 2011 and has thrown just under 1000 innings at the big league level. Signed to a minor league deal last month, he’s made nine appearances since being selected to the roster. Santiago entered play today with a 2.45 ERA/2.89 SIERA across 14 2/3 innings.
