Andrew Heaney leads Angels to game 1 win vs. Dodgers

Andrew Heaney showed why the Los Angeles Angels named him the number two starter behind ace Garrett Richards.  Heaney pitched six strong innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his final tune-up before the regular season. Heaney finished the Spring with a 2.25 ERA as he gave up only one earned run striking out four Thursday night.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a RBI-single by Carlos Perez who finished 3 for 4 on the night.  The single scored Kole Calhoun who had walked earlier in the inning. After the Dodgers tied the score in the bottom of the fifth, the Angels won the game with an eighth inning RBI-Single roster hopeful Todd Cunningham who scored Rey Navarro from second.

Al Albuquerque who was sent to the minors early in the week came back and pitched a strong seventh striking out the side.  He was followed by Cory Rasmus pitched a perfect eighth and then roster hopeful Greg Mahle got the first out in the ninth and then former Dodger Javy Guerra got the final two outs to get his first save of the Spring.

The Angels have only lost once in their last 11 Cactus League games and strong pitching has been the key recently As Richards and Santiago as well as Heaney have pitched well recently.  They will play the Dodgers two more times on Friday and Saturday and then finish their exhibition season with a game Sunday against the Chicago Cubs.

The Angels still need to cut their roster down five more players by Sunday night.  We will see what happens the rest of the series.