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“He took a couple of good swings on fastballs prior to the home run,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “Kole has swung the bat pretty well overall recently, even against lefties. He hangs in there well.”\n\nCalhoun’s clutch blast helped make up for the two homers surrendered by Heaney to Encarnacion. The first one came on a 1-0 changeup, while the second was on a hanging curveball on a 3-2 count. Heaney's curveball was otherwise his best pitch, as he recorded eight of his strikeouts with it.\n\n“It was good today,\" Heaney said of his curve. \"I think the fastball sets it up. So I think being in the zone and getting some swing-throughs definitely puts some pressure on them to make a decision.”\n\nHeaney registered an impressive 22 swings and misses, including 15 with his curve and seven with his sinker. It was tied for the fifth-most swinging strikes induced by an Angels pitcher since Statcast was introduced in 2015. It set a career best for Heaney; the best by an Angels pitcher since 2015 is 25, by both Matt Shoemaker (May 27, 2016) and Shohei Ohtani (April 9, 2018).
\n\n10 strikeouts, no walks in 6.0 innings of work for the @Heandog8. pic.twitter.com/ERg9WQEHuf
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 2, 2019
It was a similar showing to his season debut against the Rangers on Sunday, when he struck out eight over five solid innings but was hurt by a pair of solo homers. Heaney has struck out 18 in 11 innings this year, but has also allowed four homers.\n\n“If I keep the ball in the yard, I think I have two completely different starts,” Heaney said. “It goes from being two kinda mediocre starts to maybe two really good ones. That's obviously kind of the name of the game now, keep the ball in the yard. It's something I'll take a look at and see if there are any adjustments I need to make to do that better.\"\n\nHeaney was backed offensively by a two-run homer from
Pujols joins Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Eddie Murray and Barry Bonds as the only players to hit at least 10 homers in each of their first 19 seasons. No player has ever reached 20 consecutive.\n\n“He can still hit a homer here and there,” Ausmus said. “He’s still got some power in him. Off the bat, it was a no-doubter.”\n\n