Angels’ Andrew Heaney earns extended opportunity after midseason call-up

The way Andrew Heaney has been pitching, Mike Scioscia has no choice but to keep giving him chances.

Originally a minor-league call-up to replace the injured Jered Weaver a month ago, Heaney held the Red Sox to two runs over seven innings on Monday, extending his record to a perfect 4-0. In fact, he’s been so dominant that Monday’s game actually raised his ERA, from 1.32 to 1.57.

And even though Weaver is almost fully recovered from his hip injury and slated to make a return soon, Scioscia was pretty definitive when asked whether Heaney has earned his spot moving forward.

“He’s staying in our rotation,” Scioscia said following the 7-3 victory.

Still, it was news to Heaney. Not that it particularly bothered him.

“Sure. One start at a time,” he said when told Scioscia said he would be sticking around.

For Heaney, it’s been a remarkable turnaround from his first taste of the big leagues. A midseason call-up for the Marlins last year, he compiled an 0-3 record and 5.83 ERA.

He pitched 29 1/3 innings over seven games for Miami. It’s taken him all of five starts with the Angels to surpass those numbers, as he has gone seven innings in all but one game for a combined total of 34 1/3 frames.

One statistic Heaney has not overtaken from his stint with the Marlins is walks. After allowing seven walks last season, he has only four this year, including none in Monday’s game.

“There’s control and there’s command,” Scioscia said. “What we’re seeing from Andrew is command. And with that, he’s been able to make pitches, he’s been able to get in the zone early and he hasn’t gotten into deep counts that lead to walks. He’s not going out there and saying, ‘I’m not going to walk anybody; I’m going to throw it down the middle.’ ”

Heaney’s willingness to go after hitters early and force contact means he also does not have many strikeouts. While Hector Santiago struck out 10 in five innings in the day game of Monday’s doubleheader, Heaney rung up only four in seven frames. He averages 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranks him fourth among Angel starters.

On Monday, he gave up several hard-hit balls early, allowing three line drives in the first two innings. But for a contact pitcher like Heaney, those hits were not particularly concerning, Scioscia said.

“They squared up some balls ... but that’s part of any pitcher’s game. I don’t think the number of hard-hit balls changed the outcome of what Andrew was trying to do out there,” he said. “I don’t think it was excessive. He pitched a strong game.”

But perhaps the most encouraging sign for Heaney was that Monday was not his finest outing, and yet he still did enough to win. Boston’s only runs came on a homer from David Ortiz in the sixth, but at that point, Heaney already had six runs in support. Over his past three starts, the Angels have scored 27 runs.

Afterward, Scioscia praised the outing but also noted that Heaney could have been better.

“He didn’t have quite the life on his fastball that he did in Colorado,” he said. “This lineup, they’ll let you know if you miss your spots, and he did that later in the game to David Ortiz, who took it out for a home run.

“But he was in the zone.”

Nitpicking the performance of a minor league fill-in who has registered five straight quality starts isn’t typical of a manager. But as of Monday, Heaney is no longer just a call-up. He is an established part of the rotation.