KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
THE FATEFUL 8TH: The Royals suffered a heartbreaking 3-1 loss in San Francisco yesterday, dashing hopes of what would’ve been their first 3-game road sweep since August 2021…after everything went right in the 8th inning in Saturday’s comeback win, the 8th inning turned on the Royals yesterday, when they stranded a double that began the top half of the frame…clinging to a 1-0 lead in the bottom half, Wilmer Flores hit a 2-out double to tie the game, and Michael Conforto followed with a go-ahead, 2-run homer…the Giants comeback spoiled a fantastic start by Kris Bubic, who allowed just 2 hits and no walks over 6.0 scoreless innings and matched a career high with 9 strikeouts…on offense, the Royals recorded just 5 hits, failed to draw a walk and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and rank last in the Majors with a .169 average in scoring situations.
BACK IN ACTION: Manager Matt Quatraro has re-joined the team in Texas after missing the last 5 games with a positive COVID-19 test…Bench Coach Paul Hoover served as Interim Manager while Q was out, and led the Royals to a 2-3 record, although Elias tells us that those 5 games count toward Quatraro’s win-loss ledger.
STARTING SOMETHING: Kris Bubic turned in one of the best starts of his career yesterday, allowing only 2 hits and no walks over 6.0 scoreless innings, with a career-high-tying 9 strikeouts…it was the 1st scoreless start by a Royal this season and already the eighth time in 10 games in which a Royals starter has allowed 2 runs or fewer, which leads the Majors ahead of the Twins and Rays (7 each)…yesterday’s 3-1 loss marked the fifth time in 10 games that the Royals have allowed 3 runs or fewer for the game, but they’re only 1-4 (.200) in those contests, which are 2 more losses than any other team…last season, the Royals went 49-12 (.803) when holding opponents to 3 runs or fewer, which was slightly above the league-average mark of .786.
Royals starting pitchers have produced a 3.29 ERA (20 ER in 54.2 IP) through 10 games, which ranks 4th in the Majors behind the Rays (1.90), Twins (2.24) and Yankees (3.27)…good starting pitching typically leads to more wins, as the three teams ahead of the Royals in starter’s ERA are a combined 21-6 (.778) this season, and the Royals are the only team in the top 16 in starter’s ERA with no more than 3 wins.
RAID THE ZONE: The Royals pitching motto this year, as told by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, is “RAID THE ZONE,” a phrase meant to encourage pitchers to attack the strike zone…this is an area in which the Royals struggled last year, when they finished last in the American League in walks (589), BB/9 (3.74) and last in the Majors in first-pitch strike rate (58.0%)…under new Pitching Coach Brian Sweeney, Assistant Pitching Coach Zach Bove and Bullpen Coach Mitch Stetter, the Royals pitching staff has improved significantly in many categories, ranking 6th in the Majors with a 2.7 BB/9 rate and 8th with a 62.1% first-pitch strike rate and 3.3 K/BB ratio.
Royals pitchers have recorded 22 strikeouts and 1 walk in the last 2 games, and in their last 4 games, they’ve produced 42 strikeouts in 35.0 innings (10.8 K/9) and only 6 walks (1.5 BB/9)…twice in the last 4 games, Royals pitchers have struck out at least 11 without issuing a single walk, something they’d done only 14 times in the franchise’s previous 8,515 games dating back to 1969.
JUST KEEP SWINGING: While Kansas City’s pitching staff has been among the best in the Majors through the first 10 games of this season, the offense has yet to get going…in fact, the Royals offense ranks last in the Majors in batting average (.184) and on-base percentage (.255), is tied for last in runs per game (2.7), 29th in OPS (.576) and 28th in slugging percentage (.321)…but despite the lack of results, some of the advanced metrics suggest promise in the Royals offensive approach…Baseball Savant, for example, ranks the Royals 2nd in average exit velocity (91.3 mph), trailing only the Dodgers (92.1 mph)…FanGraphs’ measure of Hard Hit Rate (balls with an exit velocity of 95.0 mph or greater) also ranks the Royals 2nd in the Majors at 48.0%, trailing the Dodgers (50.0%)…the Royals rank last in the Majors with a .222 Batting Average on Balls in Play, and are hitting “only” .561 on line drives, well below the league average of .660, both of which suggest better luck is ahead.
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS: The Royals and Rangers are meeting tonight for the first of 3 games this week…these teams will meet again next week at Kauffman Stadium, which means they’ll play 6 games vs. each other over the next 10 days…in fact, the Royals 6-game season series vs. the Rangers will end before the Royals play a game vs. three of their four division rivals, as they won’t see the White Sox until May 8, their 1st meeting with Detroit won’t come until May 22 and their 1st game vs. Cleveland is scheduled for June 27.
The Royals went 2-4 vs. the Rangers in 2022, losing their seventh straight season series since 2015, a stretch in which they are 13-34 (.277) and have been outscored 232-155 (-77)…this includes a club-worst 12-game skid vs. the Rangers from July 23, 2016-July 15, 2017 in which they were shut out twice and outscored 47-22 (-25)…the Royals are 4-18 (.182) vs. the Rangers in Texas since 2016, including a 7-game skid that was halted last May 11, which marked their only win at Globe Life Field, which opened in 2020.
These two franchises have played each other in six different ballparks, including Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium (1969-72) and Kauffman Stadium (1973-present), and RFK Memorial Stadium, where the Washington Senators played from 1962-71…the franchise became the Rangers in 1972 and played in Texas’ Arlington Stadium through 1993, before Globe Life Park was introduced in 1994…that ballpark still stands across the street from the new Globe Life Field, which opened in 2020 and is now in its fourth season.
APRIL 10 IN ROYALS HISTORY: Today marks the 50-year anniversary of the inaugural game at Royals Stadium, in which the Royals beat these Rangers 12-1 in front of 39,464 fans on April 10, 1973…Royals Stadium has years ahead of its time and was the sole baseball-only facility built between 1966 and 1991…the ballpark was renamed in honor of the franchise’s founder, Ewing Kauffman, on July 2, 1993, less than a month before he died…a half-century later, Kauffman Stadium is recognized as one of baseball’s most beautiful parks…The K has hosted two All-Star Games, in 1973 and 2012, three no-hitters and a total of 13 World Series games.
PACE OF PLAY: The new pitch timer rules implemented for 2023 have already produced dramatic results through the first 11 days of the regular season…through 141 games that have ended in 9 innings, the average game time has been 2 hours, 37 minutes, and only 16 of the 141 games (11.3%) lasted at least 3 hours…the Royals 10 games have averaged 2 hours, 26 minutes, which is 11 minutes below the league average and is tied with the Twins for the fastest average time in the young season…compared to 9-inning games across the Majors last season, average time of game is down 26 minutes, while batting averages are up from .243 to .249, runs per game are up from 8.6 to 9.4 and stolen base success rates have jumped from 75.4% to 81.3%…the current success rate of steals would shatter the Major League record set in 2021 at 75.7%.
TONIGHT’S STARTERS: RHP ZACK GREINKE (0-2, 2.38)
ZACK GREINKE is making his 3rd start of the season and 517th of his career tonight vs. Texas, breaking a tie with Jack Powell (1897-1912) for 43rd place on the all-time starts list, 1 behind Hall of Famer John Clarkson (1882-94)…it’s his 23rd career start (25th appearance) vs. the Texas Rangers…Greinke, now in his 20th season in the Majors, is a six-time All-Star, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and was named the American League Cy Young Award winner in 2009 with the Royals.
He is one of three pitchers in Major League history with at least six Rawlings Gold Gloves and six All-Star selections, along with Greg Maddux and Bob Gibson.
Among active pitchers, Greinke ranks 1st in starts (516), innings (3258.1), 2nd in wins (223) and 3rd in strikeouts (2,890)…he is one of three pitchers in Major League history to win a Cy Young Award, a Rawlings Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award, along with Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.
LAST START: Greinke suffered a 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays last Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, in which he allowed just 1 run on 7 hits and 1 walk in 6.0 innings, with 4 strikeouts…he stranded back-to-back 2-out singles in the 1st inning and a 2-out walk in the 2nd, before erasing a leadoff single in the 3rd with a 5-4-3 double play…Zack held the Blue Jays without a run until the 6th, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr.—who singled with 1 out—scored on a fielder’s choice to break the scoreless tie… he stranded a pair of runners to escape the 6th, which signaled the end of his night.
There have been 126 pitchers who’ve started 2 games entering today…of those, 21 are 0-2—including Zack—and none have an ERA lower than his 2.38.
OPENING DAY: Zack suffered a 2-0 loss on Opening Day vs. Minnesota, which marked his 7th career Opening Day start and 6th in the last eight seasons, matching Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola and Madison Bumgarner for the most in the Majors among pitchers since 2016…it was his 3rd Opening Day start with Kansas City, tied for the 3rd most among pitchers in Royals history behind Royals Hall of Famers Kevin Appier, who has a franchise-record 7 Opening Day starts, and Dennis Leonard (4).
At 39 years, 160 days old, he was the oldest Opening Day starter in Royals history, surpassing his own record set last season…the last pitcher older than Zack to start a game for an American League team on Opening Day was Curt Schilling, who started for Boston in 2007 at age 40 at Kauffman Stadium vs. the Royals.
BACK IN BLUE: Zack returns in 2023 for the second straight year to Kansas City, where he spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career, after being selected by the Royals 6th overall in the 2002 Draft…Greinke is the 33rd player to play for the Royals, leave the organization and later return…he missed time due to two stints on the Injured List in 2022, limiting him to only 137.0 innings, the 4th fewest in his career behind the shortened 2020 season (67.0 IP), 2006 (6.1 IP) and 2007 (122.0 IP)…he did, however, rank 2nd among Royals starters with a 3.68 ERA (56 ER in 137.0 IP).
Zack enters tonight with 1256.1 innings in a Royals uniform, and is only 2 outs shy of matching Charlie Leibrandt for 7th place in Royals history.
GRE1NKE: After surpassing 500 career starts and 50,000 pitches thrown last season, Greinke is on the verge of many more milestones this year…among them is a rare feat, courtesy of Baseball Reference’s Kenny Jackelen…Greinke has struck out 993 different batters in his 20-year career and is seven new strikeout victims shy of joining Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens as the only pitchers in Major League history to fan 1,000 different batters…there are four players on Texas’ active roster who Greinke has yet to strike out, including Ezequiel Duran, Josh Jung, Nathaniel Lowe and Bubba Thompson, but only Lowe and Thompson are in the starting lineup tonight.
VS. TEXAS: Zack is 8-8 with a 3.63 ERA (56 ER in 129.0 IP) in 24 career appearances (22 starts) vs. Texas, including a win last June 29 at Kauffman Stadium…in fact, he’s won 5 of his last 7 starts vs. the Rangers dating back to 2020, despite pitching to a 5.45 ERA (24 ER in 39.2 IP) during that stretch.
ON THE ROAD: Greinke went 0-7 with a 5.32 ERA (42 ER in 71.0 IP) in 14 road starts last season—in which the Royals went 4-10—and he’s winless in his last 17 road starts dating back to his most recent win on Aug. 13, 2021 at Anaheim (with Houston), where he pitched 7.0 shutout innings in a 4-1 victory. Ê Zack has faced the Rangers in seven different ballparks, including 8 games (7 starts) at Globe Life Park, 7 games (6 starts) at Kauffman Stadium, 4 starts at Minute Maid Park, 2 starts here at Globe Life Field, and 1 start at each of Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium and Chase Field…in his only 2 starts here at Globe Life Field with the Astros in 2021, Greinke went 0-2 and allowed 13 runs in 9.0 innings…that means a win tonight would be his 1st in this ballpark and would mark the 32nd different venue he’s won in…Globe Life Field is one of five ballparks in which Zack has pitched but never won, along with Fenway Park (0-2), the original Yankee Stadium (0-2), Tropicana Field (0-4) and the new Yankee Stadium (0-1).
TEXAS RANGERS NOTES:
WINS AND LOSSES: Texas managed to avoid a 3-G sweep at the hands of the Cubs yesterday after an 8-2 win during a sunny, warm afternoon at Wrigley Field…club now has a 2-4 record in last 6 G after a 3-0 start, and yesterday’s win avoided TEX being at or below .500 for the first time in 2023… the current 5-4 record is the Rangers’ best 9-G start since 2019 (also 5-4)…team opened the 2023 campaign with a 3-0 record for just the 9th time in Rangers history, the longest season-opening win streak since 2011 (6-0)…TEX is now 3-0 when scoring 8 R-or-more and 1-4 when scoring 3 R-or-less.
STANDING TALL: The Rangers regained a share of 1st place with yesterday’s win and the Angels’ 12-11 extra inning loss to Toronto…TEX began the season alone or tied atop the division for 9 straight days, as Friday marked the latest date for the club to own even a share of 1st place in the West since the final day of team’s division-winning season in 2016 (10/2/16)…from 2017-22, the Rangers had one day in which it held, or was tied for, 1st place in the West (1-0 on 7/24/20, tied for division lead).
VS. KANSAS CITY: The Rangers and Royals are scheduled to meet for 6 times in a 9-game span this season, with consecutive Mon-Wed. series both 4/10-12 at Globe Life Field and 4/17-19 at Kauffman Stadium to wrap the season series…Rangers went 4-2 vs. Royals in ‘23, winning both home and away series 2-1…TEX has won 7 straight season series against KC (2015-19, 2021-22)…have a 30-10 (.750) mark vs. KC since the start of 2016, 2nd-highest win pct. for any team against any opponent (min. 25 G) over that span behind OAK (32-9, .781 vs. DET)…TEX has won 8 of 10, 11 of 15, 14 of 20, and 18 of last 25 against KC overall (beg. 5/25/18)… are 14-4 in last 18 G in Arlington, and are 5-1 at Globe Life
Field…in the all-time series, Rangers hold advantages overall (277-264-1) and in Arlington (152-116).
NICE TO (K)C YOU AGAIN: Texas and Kansas City played 5 games during this year’s spring slate, with TEX going 2-2-1 against its Surprise Stadium co-tenants in 2023 exhibition play…TEX opened Cactus League play with a home-and-home against KC in Surprise from 2/24-25 (L, 5-6 and L, 5-10), a home game on 3/15 (W, 4-3), and two exhibition games at Globe Life Field from 3/27-28 (T, 4-4 and W, 5-3).
SERIES STUFF: In spite of yesterday’s win, the Rangers secured their 2nd-consecutive series loss of the season after opening the year with a 3-G sweep of the N.L. Champion Phillies…Rangers dropped the 1st 2 G for a 2nd straight series (also 4/3-4 vs. BAL), but are 3-0 in series finales of the young campaign…the team is now 1-2-0 in its first 3 series this season…TEX is now 0-6-2 in last 8 road series dating to last season…the 3-0 finish vs. PHI to open the season marked the 1st time for TEX to win the 1st series of a season since 2019 (won final 2 G of 3-G series 3/28-31 vs. CHC).
READY TO START: Jon Gray secured his 1st win of the season yesterday (5.2 IP, 6 H, 2R-ER, HR, 3 BB, 4 SO), his 1st against the Cubs since 5/1/18…he now owns a 2-0 record in 2 games/starts at Wrigley Field and has pitched 5.0-ormore innings in all 4 career starts against HC…it was Gray’s 2nd-consecutive start lasting 5.2-or-more innings and allowing 2 runs-or-less this season…this follows two tough-luck starts for Martín Pérez (L, 5.0 IP, 3 R-2 ER) and Nathan Eovaldi (L, 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2R-ER) on Fri. and Sat. against the Cubs.
• The 3 starters for TEX in Chicago dropped the core’s ERA from 5.83 to 4.93, which continues to dwindle after an 8.31 ERA thru the team’s first 2 G of the season.
MAKING MOVES: The Rangers today placed catcher Mitch Garver on the 10-day Injured List (retroactive to 4/9) with a mild left knee sprain and selected the contract of catcher Sandy León from Triple-A Round Rock…in order to make room on the 40-man roster for León, RHP Spencer Howard
has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
LIGHTNING QUICK: Travis Jankowski and Bubba Thompson both drew their first starts of the season in the outfield yesterday and batted 8th and 9th in the order, respectively, going 3-for-7 with 4 R, 3 XBH and 3 RBI between them.
• Jankowski went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a SB…his single in the 2nd inning was his 2nd RBI of the season, with his first two PAs of the season both resulting in RBI hits (also April 1 vs. PHI)…the SB was the 2nd for TEX this season, and the 1st since Marcus Semien stole a base on Opening Day vs. PHI…Jankowski’s owns a 29.0 sprint speed so for this season, ranking in the top 9% of the league (per Statcast).
• Thompson went 2-for-4 with a 2B, 3B, and 2 RBI…it was his first career 3B and 2nd career multi-RBI game…he registered sprint speeds of 30.8 (2B) and 30.3 (3B), both season highs for the Rangers…the 30.8 speed on Thompson’s double ranks T11th in the Major Leagues so far this season.
WAKE ME UP: Rangers batters yesterday plated 8 R for the 1st time since 4/1 vs. PHI, going 10-for-39 (.256) at the dish, notching a season-high 6 XBH, and posting a .729 OPS… after their first 2 G of the season against Philadelphia, where TEX batted .375 with 5 HR, 27 R, and a 1.080 OPS figure, the team went .187 (35-187) with 4 HR, 12 R and a .533 OPS figure in the following 6 G from 4/2-8…club had scored 3-R-or-less in 5 of those 6 games, batting a combined .167 (6-36) w/ RISP over that span with just one XBH (2B).
HELP ME OUT, WILL YA?: Over the Rangers’ 4 losses this season, the offense has given the starting pitcher a total of 2 runs of support while the starter is in the game…in 4 G this season in which the TEX rotation has received more than one run of support (including yesterday’s 8 RS for starter Jon Gray), starters have posted a 4-0 record…for the season, TEX starters have averaged 4.53 runs of support per 9 innings, the 12th-lowest figure in MLB.
CLIMBING THE RANKS: After yesterday’s win, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy tied Leo Durocher for 11th place on MLB’s all-time managerial wins list…he enters tonight’s game with a lifetime managerial record of 2,008-2,033 (.497) over 4,041 games with San Diego (951-975, .494), San Francisco (1,052-1,054, .4995), and Texas (5-4, .556)…next on the list is former Brooklyn/Los Angeles manager Walter Alston with 2,040 wins.
SLIDE TO THE LEFT: With the game time temperature forecast around 72 degrees and only going down to around 68 degrees this evening, the team will plan to play with the roof open for tonight’s game (scheduled to open at 6:30 p.m. after batting practice)…tonight will mark the 3rd time this season that the roof has been open to start a game (also 3/30-4/1 vs. PHI), with the team going 2-0 in such contests…in the 3/30 game (Opening Day) the roof was closed in the top of the 4th inning due to rain in the area.
• TEX is 15-20 all-time in 35 G with the roof open at Globe Life Field…of the 35 regular season games all-time played at GLF with the roof open (6 in 2020, 11 in 2021, 16 in 2022, 2 in 2023), 16 have taken place prior to May 1 on the calendar.
COMING SOON: The Rangers today announced that Monday, April 17 is the date that they’ll unveil their City Connect uniforms, which the team will wear every Friday home game at Globe Life Field this season, beginning Friday, April 21 when they host the Oakland Athletics at 7:05 p.m…the April 21 date is of great significance for the Texas Rangers franchise, as the team played its first ever game at Arlington Stadium on April 21,1972.
SHORTS: The Rangers will play their 7th home game of the season tonight and currently own a 4-2 record at Globe Life Field this season, tied for 2nd-most wins at home for an A.L. team so for this campaign (also New York Yankees)… KC owns a 2-1 road record despite going 1-6 at home so far this season.
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER – #44 Andrew Heaney, LHP (0-1, 23.63)
TONIGHT: The 31-year-old left-hander is scheduled to make his 2nd start/appearance of the season in tonight’s series opener against the Royals…will be seeking to bounce back from a Texas debut in which he recorded 8 outs and permitted 7 runs…will be pitching at Globe Life Field for the 2nd time in as many starts…is one of 3 rotation member to make his Rangers debut in a start this season (also deGrom, Eovaldi), and he was the 26th and final member of TEX’s Opening Day roster to appear in 2023…Heaney is in his first season with Texas after signing a two-year free agent contract with the club on 12/9/22…is seeking to build on a 2022 campaign in which he produced career bests in ERA (3.10), WHIP (1.087), and strikeout rate (13.6 SO/9) with the Los Angeles Dodgers despite being limited by a pair of Injured List stints…from 2019-22, ranked among Major League pitchers (min. 350.0 IP) in strikeouts per 9 innings (9th, 11.07), swing-and-miss strike pct. (14th, 13.8%), strikeout pct. (15th, 28.8%), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (21st, 4.11)…the 9-year MLB veteran 138 games/127 starts with Miami (2014), Los Angeles-AL (2015-21), New York-AL (2021), Los Angeles-NL (2022), and Texas (2023)…an Oklahoma City native, Heaney pitched collegiately at Oklahoma State University before being selected by the Miami Marlins in the first round (9th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft.
SEASON DEBUT: Took loss on Tues. vs. BAL in Rangers’ 7-2 defeat (2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R-ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR, 69 pitches)…his 16 game score is easliy the lowest by a TEX starter in ‘23…posted a scoreless 1st, but gave up a 5-spot in a 34-pitch 2nd inning and made his exit after a Jorge Mateo 2-R HR to deep LF in the 3rd inning…is now 0-4, 5.85 (31 ER/47.2 IP) in his 10 season debuts over the course of his career.
VS. KANSAS CITY: Is 2-0, 2.28 (6 ER/23.2 IP) over 4 G/GS in his career against the Royals, posting 4 BB/23 SO with no HR allowed…took ND in start on 8/13/22 at KC w/ LAD (3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R-ER), game in which he had 60 pitches in 3 innings and exited with Dodgers leading, 10-2…last 3 starts vs. KC: 2-0, 1.45 (3 ER/18.2 IP)…that span began with a CG one-hit SHO on 6/5/18 vs. KC in Anaheim (9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO), which remains the lone CG of his MLB career…that CG SHO fell on his 27th birthday, the 1st CG one-hitter by a LAA pitcher since Ervin Santana on 6/16/12 vs. ARI…he was the 1st MLB pitcher to throw a one-hit SHO on his birthday since STL’s Vicente Palacios on 7/19/94 at HOU.
SPRING TRAINING: Posted an 0-2 record and 6.75 ERA (9 ER/12.0 IP) over 4 Cactus League ‘A’ game starts this spring, recording 14 strikeouts/6 walks while allowing 3 HR…was dominant in start for Triple-A Round Rock on 3/17 vs. Omaha (KC AAA) on Field 1 in Surprise: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, 81 pitches/59 strikes.
Date Opp. Dec. ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR P/S
3/1 vs. LAD L 10.80 1.2 3 2 2 2 2 2 —
3/6 at COL — 3.86 3.0 2 0 0 1 4 0 —
3/12 at SEA — 4.91 2.2 4 2 2 1 5 0 —
3/17 vs. KC (AAA) — — 5.0 6 1 1 1 8 0 81/59
3/24 at CHC L 6.75 4.2 8 5 5 2 3 1 —
‘A’ Totals 0-2 6.75 12.0 17 9 9 6 14 3 —
AT HOME / IN ARLINGTON: After his loss on Tues. vs. BAL, Heaney has now lost all 3 career starts at Globe Life Field (0-3, 11.91)…had 2 starts at this park with LAA in 2020: 8/9/20 (L, 3.2 IP, 5 R-ER) and 9/8/20 (L, 5.0 IP, 5 R-3 ER)… in the latter start, surrendered a solo HR to Elvis Andrus in the 2nd inning…TEX starter in that game was Lance Lynn (W, 7.0 IP, 1 R-ER).
• In 2022, fared far better in 8 G/7 GS on the road (2-1, 2.38 ERA) than in 8 G/7 GS at Dodger Stadium (2-3, 3.72 ERA)…for his career, has seen more success at home (22-21, 4.35 ERA, 72 G/65 GS) than in his away outings (14-22, 4.95 ERA, 66 G/62 GS)…the former Angels hurler (2015-21) owns a lifetime 1-6 record and 8.22 ERA (35 ER/38.1 IP) in 8 career games/starts in Arlington.
INJURIES IN 2022: Was limited to 16 games/14 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022, enduring a pair of lengthy stints on Injured List: 4/20-6/18 (left shoulder discomfort) and 6/24-7/26 (left shoulder inflammation).
2022: Worked around a pair of IL stints due to shoulder issues and was 4-4, 3.10 over 16 G/14 GS in his only season with the Dodgers…limited opponents to a .214/.285/.429/.713 (60-280) slash line, posting reverse splits vs. RH (.210 BA) and LH (.230 BA) batters…career bests in ERA (3.10), WHIP (1.087), and SO rate (13.6 SO/9)…his 5.79 SO/BB rate was easily best of his career…went 2-1, 2.12 (11 ER/46.2 IP) with 12 BB/70 SO in his 1st 10 starts thru 8/30…had 10 K’s in just 4.2 IP on 8/18 at MIL…beginning 9/5, Heaney was 2-3, 4.85 (14 ER/26.0 IP) in his final 6 G/4 GS…gave up season highs in R (6) and HR (4) on 9/5 vs. SF…pitched in relief for final 2 G in regular season: 9/29 at SD and 10/4 vs. COL…went 3-3, 3.06 in 14 GS and 1-1, 3.38 in his 2 relief outings…had a pair of season-long 6.0-IP starts: 4/17 vs. CIN and 8/24 vs. MIL…10 of his 14 HR allowed on the season came over a 4-G span from 8/18-9/5…gave up just one HR over 69 left-handed batters faced…made his 1st and only career postseason app. in relief on 10/14/22 in NLDS G3 at SD (3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R-ER), allowing the 2nd run in Padres’ 2-1 victory that gave them a 2-games-to-1 series lead over the Dodgers.
