ANAHEIM, CA — Because Angel Stadium is across the freeway from Disney Land in Anaheim, California, you get the feeling that some things we see are unreal and that we are in “Fantasy Land.” We may begin to believe that the Pittsburgh Pirates are a good team after they pounded the Angels’ pitching staff last night.
Image Credit: Ruben Magana/Latino Sports
When the ‘Pie-Rats’ send out Andrew Heaney, who stands at 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA, people begin to think he will win a Cy Young Award this year and that Heaney and Paul Skenes will put them in the playoffs—Screech, bing, bang, boom, put on the breaks, my friends.
The Pirates have 138 games left in this long grind of a baseball season.
But Heaney sure looked like a Cy Young Award winner tonight as he came out swinging and set the stage by striking out the first six batters he faced!
He remained perfect through the first four and one-third innings, 13 batters up, 13 batters down, including eight strikeouts, all in swings and misses, until Travis d’Arnaud lined a double into the left field corner. Heaney got some help when 2022 NL LatinoMVP Rookie of the Year, Oneil Cruz, Nizao, Dominican Republic, hit an absolute bomb, 463 feet up the hill in center field, his sixth home run of the season, giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
Heaney left the game with six innings pitched, one hit, zero runs, zero walks, and nine strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches, 66 for strikes. He had outstanding command and control and changed speeds on all his pitches, which never exceeded 90 mph. His excellent location allowed him to use the entire strike zone, keeping the Angels hitters off balance and somewhat confused.
What else can I say about Mr. Heaney? Wow!
The final score was 3-0 Pirates who are looking for a sweep of the Halos in the final game of this three-game series tomorrow.
Image Credit: Ruben Magana/Latino Sports
The Pirates will start RHP Carmen Mlodzinski while the Angels counter with their ace Tyler Anderson, who is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.08 in four starts.
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