Fayetteville's Santander pulls double duty

After putting his team within a run of tying the game, Juan Santander had much more to offer Single-A Fayetteville on Friday night.

The Woodpeckers trailed the Red Sox by five runs entering the top of the fifth inning, but by the bottom half, the Astros’ affiliate found itself down a run, following a Santander RBI double. The right-handed first baseman barreled a pitch at the bottom half of the zone to center field, scoring Cesar Hernandez to cap a four-run fifth.

Fayetteville clawed back from a six-run deficit to seal an 8-7 comeback win in the 10th inning at Salem Memorial Ballpark, but who earned the save was not listed as a member of the pitching staff. After burning through five arms in nine innings, Woodpeckers manager Ricky Rivera turned to his first baseman to close out the tight contest.

After tallying a pair of hits and an RBI earlier to fuel Fayetteville's comeback, Santander sealed the win on just 10 pitches to register his first professional save.

Santander -- who is familiar with the rubber -- ditched his first baseman’s mitt and came out firing for the Woodpeckers. With a full count, the righty pumped a 91 mph pitch on the outer edge to Red Sox No. 4 prospect Miguel Bleis, who homered in the second inning, freezing the outfielder to pick up the strikeout.

With a runner starting on second base, Santander managed to retire the next two Red Sox in order on four pitches. The final out came by way of a ground ball to the newly appointed first baseman -- Xavier Casserilla -- who scampered to the bag and dove to record the final out of the game before leaping to his feet with excitement.

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The 21-year-old isn't a stranger to the mound. He was brought in to pitch on May 15 -- 10 days before his heroics on both sides of the ball. Similar to Friday, Santander moved away from first base and pitched two scoreless innings in relief during a 22-1 loss to Kannapolis, striking out two batters while allowing a hit and a walk.

Through three innings this season, Santander sports a 0.00 ERA with three strikeouts while also slashing .255/.317/.409 with five doubles and four homers in 32 games for the Woodpeckers.