ARLINGTON — Andrew Heaney chuckled a little bit.
“D.C. was just,” Heaney said, paused, then laughed again. “Just bad.”
He said the same thing last Sunday after he gave up a season-high eight earned runs in three innings against the Washington Nationals in the Rangers’ final game before the All-Star break. Then he sat on it for six days (while taking care of his newborn twin daughters) as play paused for the midsummer classic.
So, yeah, he was a little anxious to get back out there.
Or maybe a lot anxious.
“Very,” Heaney said. “Very.”
Heaney pitched 5.1 shutout innings in the Rangers’ 2-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday at Globe Life Field in a bounceback effort that secured Texas’ first series win since the third week of June. His third scoreless start of the season propelled the Rangers’ seventh shutout of 2023 and first since June 2 vs. the Seattle Mariners.
“Good bounceback from him to throw the ball the way he did,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He had command of all his pitches, had the good fastball going along with the slider and occasional changeup. Solid, solid effort by him.”
He struck out three Cleveland batters in the first three innings — each on a high fastball — and stranded a runner on base in his first full five. A Guardians batter didn’t reach second base until the fifth inning when No. 9 hitter Cam Gallagher doubled to left field; Heaney induced two groundouts to end the inning.
With one out in the sixth, Josh Naylor hit a high fastball for a double and stole third base. Heaney walked Jesuit graduate Josh Bell on five pitches (none of which was particularly close to the strike zone) before Bochy pulled him at 87 pitches. Rookie Grant Anderson entered and induced an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, kicking off 3.2 scoreless frames from himself, Will Smith and Aroldis Chapman.
“[Heaney] was teetering right there, and we knew it,” Bochy said. “With the matchup, we were comfortable going one more with him. We had Grant Anderson ready in case he did lose him, and he did.”
Heaney said he worked with pitching coach Mike Maddux over the All-Star break to fine-tune “a couple of mechanical things.” He threw a few bullpen sessions and took Maddux’ advice on what the veteran instructor saw and felt from Heaney’s recent play.
“Just really glad to have that ability to take some time over the break to get some things ironed out,” Heaney said.
Chalk that up as another All-Star break gift for the Rangers.
So if Friday night’s 12-4 win was a big one for the Rangers in the sense that it helped prove Texas’ offense could rally when handed a deficit, Saturday’s win flipped things.
The Rangers scored once in the first inning (on an Adolis García fielder’s choice that scored Marcus Semien) and again in the second (on a Semien flyout that scored Jonah Heim) but failed to truly capitalize on three bases-loaded scenarios in the first two innings with a collective 0-for-4 day with runners in scoring position.
Then they didn’t have much to even capitalize on.
After a third-inning Heim walk, the Guardians retired 12 consecutive Rangers batters before a two-out Semien single in the seventh.
Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (five innings pitched, four hits, two earned runs) struck out Corey Seager and García in the fifth, reliever Michael Kelly struck out Josh Jung and Travis Jankowski in the sixth, and Xzavion Curry struck out Mitch Garver and Leody Taveras in the seventh.
“Williams, he has really, really good stuff,” Bochy said. “Power arm, good breaking ball, occasional changeup. They’ve got a good one there. Young kid, he pitched really well, didn’t cave in. We had our chances early to put a crooked number up, but he got through and he kept them in the ballgame.”
It wasn’t quite the 12-run spectacle Friday night provided. It was, however, good enough for this pitching staff on this day.
“What a great job,” Bochy said. “By everybody.”
On Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn
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