Heaney K's 10 before late homer lifts Halos

SEATTLE -- Andrew Heaney turned in a second straight strong outing and Kole Calhoun smacked a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning to lift the Angels to a 6-3 win over the Mariners on Saturday at T-Mobile Park. The Halos have now won six of their last eight games.

Heaney, making his second start of the season after missing the first two months with left elbow inflammation, was impressive, striking out 10 without issuing a walk over six strong innings. But he had trouble facing Edwin Encarnacion, as he gave up a solo homer to him in the fourth and a game-tying two-run blast to him in the sixth on a full count.

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"I had good stuff," Heaney said. "You want to get more out of days like today. Obviously, in the situation of the game, that's not what I'm trying to do there with the 3-2 pitch. He capitalized on it. Obviously, he was seeing it well. It's something I'll take a look at and going forward, I'll have to make some adjustments."

That stuck Heaney with a no-decision, but Calhoun came to the rescue with his two-run homer off lefty Roenis Elias with two outs in the eighth. It was Calhoun’s 12th of the year and his fifth off a left-hander. He's been heating up, as he hit .299/.394/.552 in 25 games in May after batting .194/.281/.435 in 28 games in March/April.

“He took a couple of good swings on fastballs prior to the home run,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “Kole has swung the bat pretty well overall recently, even against lefties. He hangs in there well.”

Calhoun’s clutch blast helped make up for the two homers surrendered by Heaney to Encarnacion. The first one came on a 1-0 changeup, while the second was on a hanging curveball on a 3-2 count. Heaney's curveball was otherwise his best pitch, as he recorded eight of his strikeouts with it.

“It was good today," Heaney said of his curve. "I think the fastball sets it up. So I think being in the zone and getting some swing-throughs definitely puts some pressure on them to make a decision.”

Heaney registered an impressive 22 swings and misses, including 15 with his curve and seven with his sinker. It was tied for the fifth-most swinging strikes induced by an Angels pitcher since Statcast was introduced in 2015. It set a career best for Heaney; the best by an Angels pitcher since 2015 is 25, by both Matt Shoemaker (May 27, 2016) and Shohei Ohtani (April 9, 2018).

It was a similar showing to his season debut against the Rangers on Sunday, when he struck out eight over five solid innings but was hurt by a pair of solo homers. Heaney has struck out 18 in 11 innings this year, but has also allowed four homers.

“If I keep the ball in the yard, I think I have two completely different starts,” Heaney said. “It goes from being two kinda mediocre starts to maybe two really good ones. That's obviously kind of the name of the game now, keep the ball in the yard. It's something I'll take a look at and see if there are any adjustments I need to make to do that better."

Heaney was backed offensively by a two-run homer from Albert Pujols in the first and an RBI double from César Puello in the third off lefty Tommy Milone. It was the 10th homer of the year for Pujols, marking the 19th straight year he’s hit at least that many.

Pujols joins Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Eddie Murray and Barry Bonds as the only players to hit at least 10 homers in each of their first 19 seasons. No player has ever reached 20 consecutive.

“He can still hit a homer here and there,” Ausmus said. “He’s still got some power in him. Off the bat, it was a no-doubter.”

Mike Trout added an insurance run in the ninth on a solo shot off reliever Chasen Bradford. It was Trout’s team-leading 14th blast of the year and his second this series. With his 36th homer against the Mariners, he moved into a tie for the third-most homers against Seattle with Frank Thomas and Mark Teixeira. The only players with more are Rafael Palmeiro (52) and Manny Ramirez (39).