Heaney gets first big league win

ANAHEIM -- This is the Andrew Heaney the Angels were hoping for in Spring Training.

They'll settle for him being roughly three months late.

On Tuesday night, in his second Major League start this season, the lanky 24-year-old left-hander limited the Yankees to one run on two hits in seven innings, leading the Angels to a 2-1 victory -- their fourth in a row -- while capturing his first win.

"Eventually I just wanted to get it done," Heaney said. "It's something to be proud of."

Video: NYY@LAA: Heaney gets ice shower after first MLB win

Heaney -- ranked first in the Angels' system and 19th overall by MLB.com -- struggled in a brief stint with the Marlins last year, giving up 19 runs in 29 1/3 innings, then came to the Angels in the December deal that sent longtime second baseman Howie Kendrick to the Dodgers.

The Angels gave Heaney a shot to win a rotation spot in Spring Training, then watched him post a 7.03 ERA in six Cactus League starts. When he hit a few bumps in the quirky, hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, though, they brushed it off, because they knew his mechanics were back in line and that his stuff could work in the right environment.

Now they've watched him give up two runs in 13 innings in the Major Leagues, while filling the rotation spot of an injured Jered Weaver (left hip inflammation). In that span, Heaney has walked three, struck out 12 and scattered six hits.

"For me, that was a whole different thing," Heaney said of Spring Training. "I was kind of fighting my own mechanics, fighting myself on the mound. Here I've felt comfortable, and I've felt like I'm able to go out there and for the most part execute a game plan."