Heaney shows something
In his first home start in 16 months, he gives up four runs in five innings to Rangers.
Left-hander wasn’t expected to pitch in 2017. Rangers score three in 10th.
What was once a pipe dream harbored only by the team’s fans, employees and players has become attainable. Even after their 7-5 loss in 10 innings to Texas on Wednesday, the resilient Angels are 35 games of aboveaverage baseball away from earning a spot in the Oct. 3 American League wild-card game. As their unlikely season swirls and sways toward potential playoff position, a clear, present need has sprung: someone good to start that potential wildcard game.
For a team in desperate search of a starter it can count on, Andrew Heaney represents an intriguing option. Heaney and his left arm have long been prized because of his propensity for control. That ability remains, as his walk-free first two starts back from elbow ligament replacement surgery have demonstrated. But hurdles, too, linger. In 10 innings between those two starts, including Wednesday at Angel Stadium, he has surrendered 15 hits, seven home runs, and nine runs.
He framed his outings in the same way the Angels have their year.
“Every single time that we’re faced with adversity, our guys have stepped up,” Heaney said. “I’m going to do the exact same.”
On a basic level, Heaney is an odd man on whom to rest the team’s fortunes. Six months ago, manager Mike Scioscia said he could not see any possible way the pitcher would appear for the team in 2017. But Heaney believed he had a chance all along, worked toward it, and proved his manager wrong.
So, Wednesday, he took the mound in Anaheim for the first time since Game 2 of 2016. Back then, he pitched normally, then told the team about pain in his arm after his exit. Sixteen months later, after some failed injections and one successful surgery, he is back.
In the first inning, he pumped his fastball harder and harder to strike out the side, once reaching up to 95 mph. Adrian Beltre then reached out to meet Heaney’s second pitch of the second and send it five feet beyond the left-field wall.
Robinson Chirinos hit a solo shot off Heaney in the third, and Beltre another in the fourth. In the fifth, two Texas singles and a bunt scored a run. In the sixth, a Texas single and a double forced Heaney out of the game.
“I’m going to keep working to have more innings like the first,” Heaney said. “I want to feel in control of what’s happening, feel good about my process and the results I’m getting.”
Reliever Yusmeiro Petit entered, struck out Mike Napoli, issued an intentional walk to induce a favorable matchup, struck out Chirinos, and earned an inningending flyout from Ryan Rua.
Sixteen opponents have stood on the basepaths when Petit has taken the mound mid-inning this season. None have scored. No one in the sport has stranded more inherited runners without a mishap.
Rookie right-hander Eduardo Paredes inherited a clean 10th inning but yielded the winning three runs on three singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Cameron Maybin led off the Angels’ first inning with a single. The next 10 Angels to bat could not record a hit, until Albert Pujols sneaked a single through to center to begin the fourth. With one out, Andrelton Simmons followed with another single, and Luis Valbuena soon sent a two-strike changeup soaring into the right-field seats. That tied the score, 3-3.
Come the sixth, Valbuena again tied the score, singling after Simmons doubled down the left-field line and swiped third on a delayed steal.
Petit pitched a perfect seventh and Blake Parker a perfect eighth before Bud Norris took the mound for the ninth. With one out, he hit Chirinos with a cutter, then allowed a liner into left field. Maybin sprinted, dove and caught it, saving a certain single and possible double.
Undeterred, Norris gave up two clean singles. On the second, Mike Trout cleanly recovered the ball and fired a strike home, where catcher Martin Maldonado tagged out Chirinos.
After an extended review, the call was confirmed, the remaining crowd electrified, and, soon, the game sent into extras. Short hops
The Angels will recall right-hander Troy Scribner from triple-A Salt Lake to start Thursday against Texas, taking the rotation spot of the injured JC Ramirez. Scribner, 26, has allowed three earned runs over nine innings in two previous starts this season. … Left fielder Ben Revere expects to miss a few days after fouling a ball off a muscle above his knee Tuesday. It is sore, he said, but should not force him to the disabled list.