Andrew Heaney takes no-hitter into 6th as Pirates shut out Cardinals in series opener

Overshadowed by the sudden offensive outburst by the Pittsburgh Pirates has been the quality of their pitching, until Andrew Heaney took the mound Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The veteran left-hander shut down St. Louis over 6⅔ scoreless innings – not allowing a hit for 5⅔ innings – and a six-run fifth propelled the Pirates to a 7-0 win Monday night before 12,387 at PNC Park.

It was the fourth consecutive win and sixth in eight games for the Pirates (36-50), who scored 30 runs in their three-game sweep of the New York Mets over the weekend, and their eighth shutout win of the season. It marked their fourth consecutive game scoring at least seven runs and getting double-digit hits (11).

That the start of the game was delayed 71 minutes by rain didn’t affect Heaney (4-7), who notched a quality start by allowing three hits with seven strikeouts against one walk. Heaney mixed mostly his four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup and curveball in throwing 63 of his 95 pitches for strikes, getting eight whiffs and 15 called strikes.

“He’s a pro,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Came out, dominated the strike zone and did a really good job. To give us 90-something pitches and get into the seventh inning, give us 6⅔, it was unbelievable.”

Heaney walked the first batter he faced, Brendan Donovan, but when he got Masyn Winn to ground into a double play, it was a sign that the game would work in his favor. Heaney faced the minimum number of batters through five innings, as he found the fastball command that had been missing in his previous two starts.

“Just better. Just felt like the ball was going in the direction that I was trying to get it to go to,” Heaney said. “Makes it a little bit easier to work sides of the plate. Everything’s a little bit more through the zone. And, yeah, I think we had a good game plan, too. Talked with Joey (Bart) before the game. He had a couple (of) nuggets for me that I thought helped a lot. Just kind of went with that.”

Kelly moved left handed-hitting first baseman Spencer Horwitz into the leadoff spot, and he responded by going 2 for 4 with three RBIs and hit a home run to get the Pirates on the scoreboard in the first inning.

“It’s exciting that DK trusts me that I can do that,” Horwitz said. “Whether he puts me there tomorrow is up to him but, no matter where I am in that lineup, I’m going to give my best at-bat.”

Horwitz hammered Erick Fedde’s 1-0 sinker 408 feet to center field for a leadoff home run, the first of Horwitz’s career and the fifth by a Pirates player this season (Oneil Cruz had the other four). Horwitz joined John Jaso (three) and Gary Redus (four) as the only Pirates first basemen since at least 1900 to hit a leadoff homer in a regular-season game.

“He did a great job,” Kelly said. “He’s been swinging the bat well, going the other way. … His at-bats have been really good. He’s working the count, has gotten on base and is driving the ball, too. I just think we like that combination today at the top.”

The Pirates tagged Fedde for six runs in the fifth inning, when they batted through the order and had seven hits. After Bart led off with a single to left and Isiah Kiner-Falefa beat out a bunt to third, Horwitz drilled a full-count cutter to left to drive in both runners for a 3-0 lead.

Nick Gonzales doubled to right to drive in Andrew McCutchen to make it 4-0 and put runners on second and third. The Cardinals intentionally walked Cruz to load the bases, and Ke’Bryan Hayes made them pay by hitting a two-run single up the middle for a 6-0 lead. Tommy Pham followed with a single to left to score Cruz for a seven-run advantage.

By then, everyone in the home dugout was aware that Heaney was flirting with a no-hitter. Heaney tossed a one-hit shutout against Kansas City in June 2018 and had thrown five no-hit innings against Minnesota in September 2015 before Eddie Rosario tripled. Now, here he was, hitless through five innings against the Cardinals.

“When you get into the sixth inning and he’s doing a great job like that, it creeps into your mind,” Kelly said. “You start looking at the pitch count and like, ‘OK, how far can this go?’ You hope that it continues to go for him, because he’s throwing the ball so well.”

Heaney struck out Thomas Saggese and Pedro Pages to start the sixth before Victor Scott II hit a two-out flare to left. Heaney got Donovan looking at a called third strike on an 89.7-mph sinker to end the frame, then received an ovation of appreciation from the crowd as he walked off the field. Chase Shugart pitched the final 2⅓ innings to finish off the shutout, but Heaney’s strong start was the story of the game.

“Our starters have been fantastic,” Kelly said. “We’ve talked about the run support and how there have been a lot of games where it hasn’t been there. They’ve continued to be the same pitchers. Then you see the last few games where it’s continued to be the same. The starting pitching has been the same guys going out there, and it’s been really nice to be able to score some runs for them.”