Santana making himself at home in NL

ATLANTA — Ervin Santana has never faced Cincinnati, but a lack of familiarity isn’t likely to be a problem when the Braves open a three-game series against the Reds at Turner Field tonight.

Santana has adjusted to the National League just fine after eight seasons in the American League.

The Braves were fortunate to have Santana still available when Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy went down during spring training, and the 31-year-old right-hander has been even better than hoped.

Santana is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA and has three quality starts in as many outings for the Braves. He pitched eight scoreless innings in his debut April 9 despite limited spring work and has given up just one run in each of his other starts.

How good has Santana been? He has 24 strikeouts to four walks in 21 innings and has allowed just 13 hits.

That begs the question of why Santana, who had turned down a qualifying offer of $14.1 million from Kansas City, was still a free agent in March? The Braves, though, are just glad that he was.

“We were lucky that he was still out there because I don’t know what we would have done,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We were kind of down a little bit and getting him really lifted our spirits.”

Given the OK to expand the payroll to nearly $110 million, the Braves got Santana, who had been talking to Toronto and Baltimore, to take $14.1 million for this season and the deal appears to be a winner for both sides.

Santana can become a free agent again after the season and the Braves could be one of the bidders, with Medlen and Beachy questionable after second Tommy John surgeries.

Santana, hurt by the draft compensation owed the Royals, wanted to pitch with a contender and preferred the National League over the American League East. The Braves sacrificed the draft pick and upped their payroll.

“I don’t have to prove anything. Just be me,” Santana said. “I know what I can do. A lot of people know what I can do. So I just have to be me every time I take the mound.”

While Santana is looking for success in his first appearance against the Reds, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman is hoping to just be able to see the ball tonight.

Freeman conceded Wednesday morning he’s had some problems lately with dryness in his eyes.

Freeman said he went to see team optometrist Dr. David Ross Tuesday night, who told him he has some “abrasions in the whites of his eyes,” but he’s treating it with drops and gel he puts in before he goes to sleep. Freeman felt good enough to be back in the lineup Wednesday.

“Everything is all right — nothing on the corneas,” Freeman said. “I had some little abrasions on the whites of my eyes, and it was dry, so I had to clean my lids out and my tear ducts and get them going again. He said I should be fully healthy by (today). I’ve got to deal with it a little bit today, but I’ll be good.”

Freeman was leading the majors in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and batting .389, when the Braves went to New York this past weekend and the cold and windy conditions at Citi Field started to bother him.

“After the first game in New York, the wind was blowing straight in, it dried my eyes out,” Freeman said. “And I felt it a little bit in the second game, but I was able to get some hits that day (going 3-for-4) so I was like maybe it’s in my head. Then the next day it was a little worse.”

On Monday, Freeman said five minutes before he took the field against the Marlins, his left contact broke in his eye. Trainers were able to get the rest of it out, give him some drops, and he played, but Freeman went 0-for-9 with four strikeouts the first two games of this series, his first two hitless games of the year.

Freeman, like Brian McCann, has battled vision issues over the years. They were exacerbated for Freeman during a trip to Coors Field in May of 2012, when windy conditions caused him major dry-eye problems. Freeman struggled much of that season finding suitable eyewear. He eventually settled on a specific kind of contact lens that helps his eyes stay moist and then he wears non-prescription wrap-around glasses in the field to protect his eyes from wind and irritants.

Freeman doesn’t like wearing glasses at the plate because he doesn’t want anything obstructing his peripheral vision.

Freeman has not a missed a game this season.