'Stepped up:' Heaney, Cruz give Pirates all they need
On a day in which the Pirates celebrated Andrew Heaney's 10th year of service time, which less than 10% of major-league players accomplish, the veteran left-hander turned in a brilliant outing as his team recorded its first shutout of the season with a 1-0 win over the Nationals at PNC Park.
Heaney threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings and limited the visitors to five hits while giving up two walks and striking out four. He threw just 95 pitches as he worked efficiently and was ultimately motivated by getting the Pirates another series win.
"When it boils down to it, I just wanted to go out there and pitch. I wanted us to win a series," Heaney said about recording his first win of the season and getting an ovation from the fans in attendance as he walked off the mound in the eighth inning. "We were up 2-1 in a series. I wanted to go 3-1 in a series. I don't want to split with these guys. I want us to win. That was front of my mind. I think that's what any player would say. You just come in here every day, you have a routine, you have a mindset. It doesn't matter. You've just got to take it day by day, pitch by pitch. I know it's cliche, but that's how I really felt today."
With that mindset, the 33-year-old, who joined the Pirates before the start of their Grapefruit League schedule this spring, put together arguably his best start of the season to keep the Nationals' lineup at bay. He mixed in six different pitches and while he didn't necessarily over power the Nationals like he did the Yankees on April 6 when he recorded 10 strikeouts, he didn't need to.
Heaney's start was similar to that of Bailey Falter's two-strikeout, two-hit performance last night. Heaney did much of the same as he induced 10 groundouts and four fly outs. So, while he might have picked up a few pieces of advice from his fellow southpaw, he just wanted to follow up Falter's performance with one that was just as good.
"You want to go out there and try to do better. You want to try to build off that. He gave you a blueprint on how to face those guys. I want to take that and use it," Falter said. "Same with Mitch (Keller), same with everybody. You want to go out there and build on that as a unit. Especially in a four-game series. You've got a lot of information on those guys, and you want to use that. It's good to talk to these guys. See what they're feeling. Bailey had a couple words for me before, we talked about it and that's great. I think that's the kind of thing that can make you feel like it's a downhill train."
Heaney and Falter became the first pair of Pirates left-handed starters to throw 7-plus scoreless innings in consecutive games since 1982 when John Candelaria and Larry McWilliams accomplished the feat, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
To earn the win, and hand the Pirates their second series victory of the season, Heaney needed just one run of support and it came in the very first inning when Oneil Cruz followed up his first career grand slam from last night with another career milestone:
Yup, that was Cruz's first career leadoff home run, raising his career total to 11 home runs in the No. 1 spot in the order. He is the first Major League Baseball player to hit a grand slam then a leadoff home run in consecutive plate appearances since Jose Altuve in 2021. Kirk Gibson was the last Pirate to do so in 1992, according to the Bureau.
"We knew he could impact the game. He has done it before," Derek Shelton said. "He can change the game from the top, and today he did."
Cruz missed three games last week after getting hit in the hand with a pitch on April 8. He was inserted back into the lineup on Sunday and has provided the Pirates offense with all the punch it's needed in the past two games.
Whether that's coming from the top of the order, or in the No. 3 or No. 4 spot, Cruz has done what the Pirates have needed to win games, including three of the last four. And no matter where he's hitting, he's looking to give the offense a boost.
"Nothing changes, being a leadoff guy or hitting down in the order," Cruz said through assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales. "It’s just a matter of looking for good pitches and putting good swings on the ball, on the zone that I know I can make damage."
However, with such a slim margin to work with on this day, Heaney had to work his way out of a few jams. On two different occasions, he stranded a runner at third base. The first came in the second inning after Nathaniel Lowe led off with a single and advanced to third after Dylan Crews singled and Luis Garcia Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice. With one just out, Heaney retired the next two hitters with a line out and a ground out.
Then, after recording two outs in the sixth inning, Amed Rosario and Lowe reached third and second, respectively, on back-to-back hits. Heaney retired the side by getting Crews to fly out to right field.
"He stepped up and really went out and showed why he is a 10-year major league veteran," Shelton said.
Since the offseason, the Pirates have preached winning games in the margins and doing the small things right. On this day, they accomplished most of that. They played clean defense, didn't make any outs on the base paths and pitched like they are expected to as Ryan Borucki and Dennis Santana closed it out by not allowing a hit in 1 2/3 innings. However, they are still looking to become more efficient at the plate.
In one situation today, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Adam Frazier executed a hit-and-run with Kiner-Falefa eventually ending up on second with no outs and the top of the order coming to the plate. That execution was followed by two strikeouts from Cruz and Bryan Reynolds and a fly out by Andrew McCutchen to end the inning.
"We played well. If we wanna go back, I think there were some things on the margins that we could've done better today," Shelton said. "We left some runners in scoring position where we could've extended it and probably made everybody breathe a little bit easier. But sometimes you have to win 1-0 on a leadoff homer, and today was that day."
On this day, the Pirates got the job done, but Heaney and Cruz were the biggest reasons why.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
6:41 pm - 04.17.2025NORTH SHORE'Stepped up:' Heaney, Cruz give Pirates all they need
On a day in which the Pirates celebrated Andrew Heaney's 10th year of service time, which less than 10% of major-league players accomplish, the veteran left-hander turned in a brilliant outing as his team recorded its first shutout of the season with a 1-0 win over the Nationals at PNC Park.
Heaney threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings and limited the visitors to five hits while giving up two walks and striking out four. He threw just 95 pitches as he worked efficiently and was ultimately motivated by getting the Pirates another series win.
"When it boils down to it, I just wanted to go out there and pitch. I wanted us to win a series," Heaney said about recording his first win of the season and getting an ovation from the fans in attendance as he walked off the mound in the eighth inning. "We were up 2-1 in a series. I wanted to go 3-1 in a series. I don't want to split with these guys. I want us to win. That was front of my mind. I think that's what any player would say. You just come in here every day, you have a routine, you have a mindset. It doesn't matter. You've just got to take it day by day, pitch by pitch. I know it's cliche, but that's how I really felt today."
With that mindset, the 33-year-old, who joined the Pirates before the start of their Grapefruit League schedule this spring, put together arguably his best start of the season to keep the Nationals' lineup at bay. He mixed in six different pitches and while he didn't necessarily over power the Nationals like he did the Yankees on April 6 when he recorded 10 strikeouts, he didn't need to.
Heaney's start was similar to that of Bailey Falter's two-strikeout, two-hit performance last night. Heaney did much of the same as he induced 10 groundouts and four fly outs. So, while he might have picked up a few pieces of advice from his fellow southpaw, he just wanted to follow up Falter's performance with one that was just as good.
"You want to go out there and try to do better. You want to try to build off that. He gave you a blueprint on how to face those guys. I want to take that and use it," Falter said. "Same with Mitch (Keller), same with everybody. You want to go out there and build on that as a unit. Especially in a four-game series. You've got a lot of information on those guys, and you want to use that. It's good to talk to these guys. See what they're feeling. Bailey had a couple words for me before, we talked about it and that's great. I think that's the kind of thing that can make you feel like it's a downhill train."
Heaney and Falter became the first pair of Pirates left-handed starters to throw 7-plus scoreless innings in consecutive games since 1982 when John Candelaria and Larry McWilliams accomplished the feat, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
To earn the win, and hand the Pirates their second series victory of the season, Heaney needed just one run of support and it came in the very first inning when Oneil Cruz followed up his first career grand slam from last night with another career milestone:
Yup, that was Cruz's first career leadoff home run, raising his career total to 11 home runs in the No. 1 spot in the order. He is the first Major League Baseball player to hit a grand slam then a leadoff home run in consecutive plate appearances since Jose Altuve in 2021. Kirk Gibson was the last Pirate to do so in 1992, according to the Bureau.
"We knew he could impact the game. He has done it before," Derek Shelton said. "He can change the game from the top, and today he did."
Cruz missed three games last week after getting hit in the hand with a pitch on April 8. He was inserted back into the lineup on Sunday and has provided the Pirates offense with all the punch it's needed in the past two games.
Whether that's coming from the top of the order, or in the No. 3 or No. 4 spot, Cruz has done what the Pirates have needed to win games, including three of the last four. And no matter where he's hitting, he's looking to give the offense a boost.
"Nothing changes, being a leadoff guy or hitting down in the order," Cruz said through assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales. "It’s just a matter of looking for good pitches and putting good swings on the ball, on the zone that I know I can make damage."
However, with such a slim margin to work with on this day, Heaney had to work his way out of a few jams. On two different occasions, he stranded a runner at third base. The first came in the second inning after Nathaniel Lowe led off with a single and advanced to third after Dylan Crews singled and Luis Garcia Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice. With one just out, Heaney retired the next two hitters with a line out and a ground out.
Then, after recording two outs in the sixth inning, Amed Rosario and Lowe reached third and second, respectively, on back-to-back hits. Heaney retired the side by getting Crews to fly out to right field.
"He stepped up and really went out and showed why he is a 10-year major league veteran," Shelton said.
Since the offseason, the Pirates have preached winning games in the margins and doing the small things right. On this day, they accomplished most of that. They played clean defense, didn't make any outs on the base paths and pitched like they are expected to as Ryan Borucki and Dennis Santana closed it out by not allowing a hit in 1 2/3 innings. However, they are still looking to become more efficient at the plate.
In one situation today, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Adam Frazier executed a hit-and-run with Kiner-Falefa eventually ending up on second with no outs and the top of the order coming to the plate. That execution was followed by two strikeouts from Cruz and Bryan Reynolds and a fly out by Andrew McCutchen to end the inning.
"We played well. If we wanna go back, I think there were some things on the margins that we could've done better today," Shelton said. "We left some runners in scoring position where we could've extended it and probably made everybody breathe a little bit easier. But sometimes you have to win 1-0 on a leadoff homer, and today was that day."
On this day, the Pirates got the job done, but Heaney and Cruz were the biggest reasons why.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
We’d love to have you!