Andrew Heaney has his birthday cake & eats the Royals, too, as his one-hit complete game gives Angels 1-0 victory

Angels 1 Royals 0

Andrew Heaney knows all about self care, apparently. I mean, you have to be pretty mindful and open to loving yourself if you want to practice good self care on a regular basis, doing things like giving yourself quiet time throughout the day, getting good amounts of rest and exercise, and stuff of that nature. Now, if you are the type of person who takes self care to a whole other level, like say giving a one-hit, complete game performance as a birthday present to yourself, then you’ve got that whole self care thing pretty well figured out.

Andrew Heaney is that type of person.

Today, Heaney turned 27 years young, and he was also due to take the bump as the Angels’ starter tonight against the Kansas City Royals. The Angels came into the game with two wins in a row, and were trying to pin down their first three-game winning streak in a month, so maybe Heaney’s cake day tour de force was just as much a gift to his teammates and the fans as it was to himself and his family. Either way, that display of pitching badassery was nothing but pure joy to watch.

The former 26-year-old hurler needed 116 pitches to get the shutout, and in the span of those electric nine innings he would only give up one walk to the four strike outs he accrued, and of course, he gave up just one stinkin’ hit to the visiting Royals. He was a masterclass in efficiency, plucking off KC’s lineup one batter at a time by goading them into outs that were easy as can be for the defense that was backing him up. It was because of this efficiency that the game flew by, with the game being in the bottom of the seventh/top of the eighth when it was just a tad after 9pm PST.

Hey, maybe he had a party or little gathering to attend, right? Whatever the reason for his motivation to slay Kansas City in such a fantastic and precise fashion is a-ok by me. It’s funny, too, that he pretty much had to give that exact type of production tonight no matter what, at least if the Halos wanted to come away with a W.

While the Royals were only coming up with a single knock, the Angels didn’t do so hot at the plate either. They would end up with just seven hits, and three of those came from a red-hot Justin Upton. Not to mention the fact that the solitary run they produced came when Michael Hermosillo got caught in a rundown at first, and the Royals let Chris Young go home from third before tagging Hermosillo and ending the inning. It was not only a weak or concerning way to go about getting the only run scored of the evening, but it didn’t even come until the fifth inning.

No matter how it came, that run would prove to be just enough for the Angels to overcome the Royals this evening, and that’s all due to Andrew Heaney blowing away the visiting team like they were a bunch of candles aflame on top of a cake with his name on it. The Angels’ starting pitching continues to be hotter that a two dollar pistol, but Heaney’s one-hit complete game kicked that hotness up a few notches, make no mistake. The gauntlet has been dropped for the next starter to outdo him, so let’s see who’s going to be up to that task.

Oh, and I should also add that on top of giving us fans a cool memory of a guy pitching like a madman on his birthday, not to mention giving the team a nice three-game winning streak, I am also grateful for Heaney’s brilliant pitching display because it takes my mind off of Andrelton Simmons injuring his ankle by slipping on the dugout steps. Mike Scioscia has already said, in post-game interviews, that Simmons is being evaluated and “hopefully” he’s day-to-day, but Simba’s lower half has taken enough of a beating in the past week as it is, so him getting dinged up, even in a non-serious way, is going to make me nervous.

Forget all that jazz, though, party people. It’s Heaney Day, and we’ve got some post-game partyin’ to do. Happy birthday, Heandog! You are truly the man, and here’s to many more cake days in that Halos uniform for ya!