Pirates Pitcher Shares Blunt Response to Poor Start
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates didn't have a great start to their 2025 season, as they struggled in their opening series.
The Pirates went straight from Bradenton, Fla. to Miami, as they faced the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park for a four game series, as they started their 2025 season.
They would win just one of those games, beginning with a 1-3 record against a Marlins team that finished with the worst record in the National League at 62-100 last season.
Pittsburgh had left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney make his first start with the franchise in the fourth and final game of the series on March 30.
Heaney put in a solid performance for the Pirates, going 5.0 innings, allowing just four hits, a walk and one earned run while striking out two batters over 79 pitches.
He also had an important final at-bat, facing Marlins second baseman Otto Lopez with a 2-2 count, two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and left fielder Javier Sanoja on second base.
Heaney threw a fast ball high above the zone that Lopez swung at and hit into deep center/right field.
Reynolds, playing in right field, immediately tracked the ball and dove, making an incredible catch, ending the inning.
This kept the Pirates up 2-1 heading into the sixth inning, but they never scored again, as a combination of terrible base running, bad defense and poor pitching led to a 3-2 loss.
Heaney spoke post game and wasn't worried about the poor start, noting that the season has just begun.
"F*** it, it's early," Heaney said.
Andrew Heaney summing things up. 😂 #Pirates pic.twitter.com/zaOOvbcIWs
— David Todd (@DTonPirates) March 30, 2025
Heaney signed a one-year deal worth $5.25 million that can rise with incentives, this offseason.
He posted a 4.28 ERA with 159 strikeouts over 160 innings and 31 starts for the Texas Rangers in 2024. The year prior, he helped the franchise win its first World Series by finishing the season with a 4.15 ERA in 147 1/3 frames and 34 appearances, 28 of which were starts.
A former first-round pick, Heaney has spent the bulk of his major league career as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, with whom he logged a 4.51 ERA and 593 punch-outs across 569 1/3 innings from 2015 through the 2021 trade deadline, when he was sent to the New York Yankees.
The Pirates will stay in Florida for their next series, as they face the Tampa Bay Rays for three more games, starting March 31.
