After Andrew Heaney posted a 5.52 ERA through his first six starts of the season, Angels manager Joe Maddon was adamant that Heaney could turn it around by establishing his fastball more going forward.

Heaney has done just that, and after allowing one run over 7 2/3 innings with 10 strikeouts against the Mariners on Friday, Heaney hurled seven scoreless frames during a 2-0 win against the red-hot Padres on Thursday at Angel Stadium. Heaney threw a career-high 117 pitches, allowing three hits and two walks with six strikeouts, lowering his ERA to a more-respectable 3.89 across 44 innings. He’s now struck out 47 this season, walked 15 and allowed just two home runs.

• Box score

"Again, this guy can pitch with his fastball,” Maddon said. “In the world of offspeed pitches, he's got a really good fastball. It's deceptive, it's quick, it gets on the hitter. He's learning how to use it even more now, and I believe that that makes the other pitches better. This guy is a bit old school, man.”

Heaney was in control throughout the game and heavily utilized his four-seamer, throwing it 78 times and getting eight swings and misses with it. It helped set up his curveball, which got five whiffs, and his changeup, which got two. Heaney threw his heater 66 percent of the time, up from his season average of 59.3 percent, which was up from 57.9 percent last year, per Statcast.

“That’s my pitch,” Heaney said. “When I’m going good, I'm spotting that in, out, up, down and not afraid to throw it in any count."

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Heaney's one issue Thursday was putting away a few hitters, which led to longer at-bats, as was evidenced by the 27 foul balls hit by the Padres and a 31-pitch fourth inning that kept him from going deeper into the game.

"That's a growth moment for Andrew right there," Maddon said. "I think these last two times out, this guy's on the verge of the complete game. He's got that kind of stuff. He had a 31-pitch inning today, going from the fourth to the fifth, and that kept him out of the eighth or the ninth today."

The left-hander appeared done after throwing 101 pitches through six scoreless frames, but Maddon sent him back out for the seventh to face Padres cleanup hitter Eric Hosmer. After Heaney retired the left-handed hitter on two pitches, he remained in the game and struck out Austin Nola before Wil Myers singled to left on a first-pitch changeup.

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Heaney then coaxed Mitch Moreland to pop up into foul territory on a 3-2 changeup, with third baseman Anthony Rendon making a nice sliding catch to end the inning. It came on Heaney’s 117th pitch, which surpassed his previous career high of 116 against the Royals on June 5, 2018.

“I told myself I had nothing to lose there and was going to go changeup -- which I don’t do very often with lefties -- and it worked out,” Heaney said. "Luckily, Rendon made a really nice play. I was extremely excited to see that ball go into his glove."

Heaney's strong outing spoiled the debut of San Diego right-hander Mike Clevinger, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Indians on Monday. The Halos scored twice off Clevinger over six innings, with Andrelton Simmons hitting an RBI single in the third and Justin Upton adding one in the fourth.

"When you face better pitching, you have to be able to do different things," Maddon said. "Clevinger was good, but we pitched better than good pitching. And that's why we won this game."