Pirates Can’t Return the Favor for Andrew Heaney

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates decision to sign veteran starting pitcher Andrew Heaney shortly after pitchers and catchers reported to spring training has looked like a savvy one.

Through his first five starts of the season, Heaney gave the Pirates everything they could have hoped for.

The left-hander entered play on Tuesday with the third-lowest ERA in the National League at 1.72. He was also leading the NL with a 0.77 WHIP and second in the league with a .165 batting average.

Heaney’s brilliance to start the season has helped offset a dormant offense as the Pirates went 3-2 through his first five starts of the season.

But Heaney had his worst start of the season in the Pirates’ 9-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at PNC Park, and the offense and bullpen couldn’t pick up the slack.

Heaney retired the first 11 batters he faced before allowing a double and then a Carson Kelly home run in the fourth. The following inning, the Cubs struck for three more runs and Heaney was lifted with two outs after walking three batters.

“Definitely not great execution,” he said of his outing. “I think the first time through, they were on balls. We just made some plays. I think I didn’t do a good job of adjusting and making better pitches when they’re a good hitting team. You just can’t do the same thing every time through the lineup.”

Even if Heaney looked like he did for much of the first month of the season, it wouldn’t have mattered.

The Pirates were shutout for the fifth time this season as their struggles offensively linger with May quickly approaching.

Shota Imanaga, who has thrown 19.0-scoreless innings against the Pirates in his career, as well as three Cubs’ relievers, combined on the shutout.

“(Imanaga’s) been effective against us,” manager Derek Shelton said following the loss. “Fastball-split.” We got ourselves in a couple situations to be able to score runs and he made pitches. He made pitches on one. They made a nice play on another one and we just couldn’t break through.

The only times the Pirates legitimately threatened came in the fifth and sixth innings.

Bryan Reynolds stepped up to the plate as the tying run with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning but struck out on three pitches. The following inning, the Pirates had runners on the corners with two outs, but Tommy Pham grounded out to first baseman Michael Busch, who made a good play on a hard-hit ball.

“Not having seen the pitches, he threw him three splits in a row,” Shelton said of the Reynolds at-bat. “Looked like the second one he kind of chased down. The third one that he punched out on, I don’t know if it was a strike or not. It looked like it kind of worked off the same location as the one before that. It’s an elite pitch and it looks like he made a pitch. ”

The Pirates’ bullpen, meanwhile, allowed five runs and a pair of home runs in 4.1 innings in relief of Heaney. Six pitchers were used in total. Zero recorded a strikeout.

“They do a really good job with their approach one through nine and I think we saw that exemplified today,” said Shelton of the Cubs, who had gone nearly 12 years without striking out once in a game.

The Pirates’ bullpen is operating without a handful of key pieces. Justin Lawrence will be sidelined for the foreseeable future with elbow inflammation. Tim Mayza is on the 60-day injured list with a lat issue. Dennis Santana was placed on the bereavement list on Tuesday.

At 11-19, the Pirates are hoping better news on the injury front — both in the bullpen and the lineup — will turn April showers into May flowers. That, and guys shaking off sluggish starts to the season.

“We’re gonna get Spencer (Horwitz) back, we’re gonna get (Nick Gonzales) back. We lost some key people in our bullpen. Losing Lawrence hurts us a little bit because he had really gone into a nice leverage role,” said Shelton. “Then we just gotta get some guys on track. I think that’s the big thing. There’s just too much inconsistency”