The Los Angeles Dodgers activated Andrew Heaney off the 15-day injured list for a start the series finale against the Washington Nationals and the southpaw picked up where he left off.
Heaney twice has dealt with inflammation in his left shoulder, with the most recent case keeping him out for one month. He was on a pitch count upon returning but fared well through scoreless innings.
Heaney threw 71 pitches and induced 12 whiffs en route to collecting four strikeouts. “It was good,” he said of the outing. Haven’t pitched a lot, so just want to get out there and be a contributor.”
Although Heaney didn’t allow a run, he issued three walks and often fell behind in counts. “Knew I was going to be on sort of a pitch limit to some extent, so I was a little annoyed with myself for having some long innings,” Heaney said.
“That puts more strain on the bullpen guys and guys are going to have to pick up more innings. Never feels good to kind of not pull your weight. Within that, I just felt like I was 2-0 on every single guy. That’s not how I like to pitch, not how I like to go about things.
“So just a little frustrated with myself for that, but we won. That’s obviously the best part of it.”
Heaney hoping to establish rhythm
Because of Heaney’s injury troubles this season, the Dodgers want to keep his usage under control while monitoring how his shoulder feels in the days following starts to ensure his availability moving forward.
“I want to feel good [Thursday] and actually pitch more than two games in a row. That’s for sure a big part of it,” Heaney said.
Back in April, Heaney made two appearances that were electric, giving a bit of validation to the work he and the Dodgers pitching staff had put in. In those starts against the Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati Reds, he struck out a combined 16 batters in 10.1 innings while only walking three.
“I need to just get myself in a routine and get into it,” Heaney said. “I haven’t pitched more than two games in a row this year, so just want to get into that flow.”
Heaney is 1-0 with a 0.47 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 2.40 FIP across 19.1 innings this season.
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