Heaney fires 2 scoreless innings in spring debut

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Andrew Heaney wasn't supposed to pitch for the Angels last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2016, but he beat the projections. The 26-year-old left-hander returned to the Majors in August and hoped to bolster the Angels' rotation as they made their final playoff push.
But things didn't exactly go to plan, as Heaney posted a 7.06 ERA over five starts before missing the final three weeks of the season with a shoulder impingement.
Now healthy again, Heaney is determined to put his injury woes behind him and simply focus on getting results on the mound.
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"I don't worry about how I feel physically," Heaney said Wednesday. "Obviously, everybody wants to feel good mechanically. You want to be sound in what you're doing, but I'm to the point now where I'm ready to get people out. I'm ready to be out there and not have to worry about anything other than getting guys out."
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Heaney accomplished that Wednesday, firing two scoreless innings in the Angels' 15-3 loss to the split-squad Indians at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Heaney gave up just a pair of singles, to Jason Kipnis and Bobby Bradley, while walking none and striking out one.
"It's definitely better than last year, that's for sure," Heaney quipped. "I felt really good. The hits that I gave up were on mistakes. They weren't really well-located pitches. I got guys with two strikes and didn't put them away. That's probably one quibble I had about it, but that comes later, when I start getting a better feel for my slider."

Getting Shiggy with it
Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who spent nine seasons in the Majors as a reliever for the Angels and Mariners, visited camp on Wednesday to interview manager Mike Scioscia for a segment that will air on NHK, a Japanese broadcast station.
Hasegawa said he is very familiar with Shohei Ohtani, as he's scouted the two-way phenom for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.
"I'm helping the other Japanese team," Hasegawa said. "So he was the enemy. I didn't like him at all. Now he plays for the Angels, so I've got to cheer him."
Hasegawa said he believes Ohtani has the potential to be a great hitter or pitcher, though he cautioned that Ohtani will likely experience some growing pains during his transition to the Majors.
"To me, he's a great pitcher," Hasegawa said. "He's still a prospect. But I'm thinking maybe in some future, he's going to be like a Yu Darvish or a [Masahiro] Tanaka. Right now, you can't expect too much. That's what I think. Especially, a two-way player is kind of tough."
Cozart debuts at hot corner
After spending his first seven Major League seasons at shortstop, Zack Cozart made his first career start at third base on Wednesday. Cozart was tested only once in four innings at third, successfully snagging a liner off the bat of Ryan Hanigan in the fourth.

Parker's streak ends
Blake Parker, who struck out 17 consecutive batters to end Spring Training last year, saw his impressive streak come to an end when he induced a groundout to start the fourth. The Angels' best returning reliever, Parker went on to allow three runs on four hits over one inning in his first appearance of the spring.
Injury update
Outfielder Chris Young (right calf strain) is still wearing a walking boot, but he has started to take some swings in the batting cage, according to Scioscia.
Camp battles
• Parker Bridwell, who is fighting for a rotation spot, struggled in his second outing of the spring, yielding five runs on seven hits over one-plus inning. Bridwell had breezed through two scoreless innings in his first Cactus League outing against the A's on Friday.
• Rule 5 Draft pick Luke Bard faced seven batters in the seventh and could only record one out, surrendering five runs on four hits, including a grand slam to Todd Hankins. Entering Wednesday, Bard had retired all six batters he'd faced this spring. The 27-year-old right-hander is in the mix for a relief job with the Angels.