One knock on him
Against the Giants it’s four, as Heaney’s home run woes prove costly
Andrew Heaney first looked at the high-arching drive in disgust, then toward the Dodgers dugout in disbelief.
For the fourth time Monday night, the Dodgers left-hander had given up a home run, his recent struggles with the long ball becoming an all-out calamity in a 7-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Entering Monday, the 31-year-old Heaney had largely been succeeding in spite of his troubling home run habit. He had a 2.12 ERA in 46 2⁄3 innings. He had 70 strikeouts and a team-best 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings. And he was starting to look confident with a fastball-slider arsenal, seemingly finally having found a pitch to pair with his deceptive fourseamer.
“This is like 95th percentile [of what we were expecting],” manager Dave Roberts said last week of Heaney, who came to the Dodgers this offseason on a oneyear deal hoping to revitalize his career. “A lot of credit to the whole organization, but Andrew obviously gets the most of it. He’s doing fantastic.”
The only problem had been the home runs. After giving up just one in his first seven starts, Heaney had allowed six in his previous three.
On Monday, it got a whole lot worse. After two scoreless innings, Heaney made a couple mistakes with his fastball in the third.
In an 0-and-1
count to Lewis Brinson, he left a four-seamer down the middle that got hammered for a two-run homer, tying the score after Freddie Freeman’s own two-run blast in the bottom of the first.
Two batters later, Heaney missed over the plate again, throwing another center-cut mistake that JD Davis crushed for a goahead solo blast.
The fourth inning wasn’t much better.
Thairo Estrada led off the frame with another solo homer, this time coming off a changeup off the plate.
Then Heaney was punished for a bad fastball again, leaving a low one over the plate for David Villar to hammer to right field.
Trailing 6-2 after the Giants’ barrage, the Dodgers couldn’t mount a comeback.
Trea Turner was caught stealing to end the third inning, after popping off second base at the end of his slide. The Dodgers got one run in the fourth on a Joey Gallo double but stranded a pair.
Then, in the fifth, they committed their costliest mistake, when Austin Barnes was thrown out at home plate after an overaggressive send from third
base coach Dino Ebel.
Barnes and Brinson traded a pair of solo home runs late, leaving the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the NL West at eight after the San Diego Padres’ loss earlier in the day.
Heaney’s performance stirred the most conversation after the game.
Heaney seems likely to be squeezed out of the postseason rotation — a potential reality he said last week he would understand.
“It’s one of those things like, if I miss a playoff [rotation] spot because of the guys that are in front of me, I’m not gonna lose sleep whatsoever,” he said. “Those guys are nasty.”
Even out of the bullpen, Heaney could provide value.
To be counted on in October, however, he’ll have to fix his home run problem first.
If they weren’t already, the consequences of not doing so became clear Monday.
Treinen pitches scoreless inning
Blake Treinen pitched another scoreless inning in his second game back from the injured list.
Though the right-hander walked one batter and needed 23 pitches to get through a laborious seventh inning, Treinen still largely looked sharp, getting one strikeout with his slider and consistently hitting 96 to 97 mph with his slider.
Short hops
Dave Roberts said Gavin Lux will not play this series, as he continues to nurse a lower neck/upper back injury that required a cortisone shot over the weekend. ... Brusdar Graterol (elbow) is getting closer to throwing off a mound. Tony Gonsolin (forearm) still has to extend his catch play before he will be ready to be at that point. ... Ryan Pepiot was optioned before Monday’s game and replaced on the roster by reliever Justin Bruihl. … Roberts said he has been getting positive reports on rehabbing reliever Tommy Kahnle, who is scheduled to make his next outing with triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
8 Magic number
Combination of Dodgers wins or San Diego losses that will clinch the NL West title.