Andrew Heaney's postseason debut for Dodgers spoiled by home run

Dodgers pitcher Andrew Heaney walks to the top of the mound as San Diego's Trent Grisham rounds the bases.

Staff Writer

Oct. 14, 2022 Updated 11:02 PM PT

SAN DIEGO —

Nine years, seven losing seasons, 137 games pitched, three trades, eight trips to the injured list and one Tommy John surgery into his big-league career, Andrew Heaney finally made his playoff debut Friday night.

It was … interesting. And eventful. And stressful. And, in the end, not very satisfying.

A success, it wasn’t. The Dodgers left-hander gave up a fourth-inning solo home run to Trent Grisham that turned out to be the difference in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the National League Division Series before a raucous, yellow-towel-waving crowd of 45,137 in Petco Park.

But it would be hard to classify the outing as a failure, seeing as Heaney, who played 6 1/2 seasons of his career for the Angels, escaped three jams — one of them harrowing — over three one-run, three-hit innings to give the Dodgers a chance to win a game on a night their usually potent bats were silenced.

“I knew my role was going to be kind of that early long relief, so I was prepared for that,” Heaney, 31, said. “I was fortunate to get out of that second inning unscathed and then, you know, just the one pitch, the first-pitch heater to Grisham, caught too much of the plate, and he put a great swing on it.”

Heaney, who missed two large chunks of the season because of shoulder strains, replaced struggling starter Tony Gonsolin in the second with runners on first and third, one out and the top of the Padres order coming up.

Heaney threw a first-pitch, up-and-in fastball to Jurickson Profar, who barely got his bat on a bunt that traveled two feet in front of the plate. Dodgers catcher Will Smith grabbed the ball and tagged Profar for an out, Austin Nola taking second.

With runners on second and third, Heaney got the dangerous Juan Soto to pop out to third, ending the inning.

Heaney ran into more trouble in the third when, with one out and a runner on first, shortstop Trea Turner raced into shallow left field on a Jake Cronenworth flare, called off left fielder Chris Taylor and dropped a catchable ball that went off his glove for a hit.

But Heaney stiffened again, striking out Wil Myers and Ha-Seong Kim, both with 86-mph sliders, with two on to end the inning.

Heaney started the fourth with his worst pitch of the night, a 93-mph, center-cut fastball that Grisham sent screaming into the right-field seats at 109.8 mph, the center fielder’s third homer of the playoffs giving the Padres a 2-0 lead.

Nola followed with a single, but Heaney got Profar to pop out to third, Soto to fly to the wall in left and, after walking Machado, struck out Josh Bell with a 95-mph fastball to end his three-inning stint.

Did Heaney want the pitch to Grisham back the moment it left his hand?

“Yeah, I mean, I’m always gonna challenge the zone, but that one just caught too much plate,” Heaney said. “It was supposed to be down and away, and just kind of leaked back over the middle.”

Outside of the homer — and a loss that pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination — his first taste of playoff baseball was everything he envisioned.

“The environment was great — it’s what you want to be in,” Heaney said. “This is why you play. This is all you can ask for.”

Door slammers

The Dodgers have gotten some stout relief work from arms such as Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Tommy Kahnle, Yency Almonte and Chris Martin in the NLDS, but the Padres bullpen has been even better.

Nick Martinez, Luis Garcia, Robert Suarez and Josh Hader combined to give up one hit and strike out six in 3 2/3 scoreless innings behind starter Blake Snell, extending their NLDS scoreless streak to 13 innings in which they’ve held the Dodgers to a .114 average (five for 44).

“Those guys drive nice cars too,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said of the Padres relief corps. “They’re good.”

In six playoff games, the Padres bullpen has posted a 2.08 ERA (five earned runs in 212/3 innings) and held opponents to a .149 average (11 for 74). They haven’t given up a run since Game 2 of the NL wild-card series against the Mets, throwing 16 scoreless innings since Sunday.

“We feel like it’s a really deep bullpen, a lot of power arms pitching well toward the end of the season, into the postseason, and inspired even a little bit more so,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “You’re seeing a lot of 100-mph pitches from us. I think three guys threw 100 today. It doesn’t happen often. When you’re locating, it’s tough to square those guys up.”

Jam shot

Trea Turner said he jammed a finger on his right hand diving into first base in the eighth inning. He finished the game, and X-rays taken after the game were negative.

The Dodgers are hopeful Turner will play Saturday. The only other player to start a game at shortstop for the Dodgers this season, Hanser Alberto, is not on the NLDS roster.

The Dodgers’ other options would be Gavin Lux, who played 31 innings at shortstop this season, and Taylor, who played one.

Caught looking

Both teams had problems with the strike zone of home-plate umpire Mark Carlson, but Dodgers pinch-hitter Lux may have had the biggest beef after he was rung up on a 101-mph full-count fastball from Luis Garcia that replays showed was clearly outside for the second out of the seventh.

Lux was so sure he had drawn a walk that he tossed his bat toward the on-deck circle near the third-base dugout.