He may have a career ERA of 7.63 in seven career games versus Baltimore batters and that includes a start this year in April in Texas when he allowed seven runs over 2 2/3 innings, but the Rangers are going with lefty Andrew Heaney (10-6, 4.15 ERA) as their Game 1 starter today.

He will oppose Orioles righty Kyle Bradish (12-7, 2.83 ERA) today at 1:03 p.m. in the opener of the American League Division Series at Camden Yards.

"We looked at a lot of things, but, number one, we looked at how well he's been throwing the ball," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said during his pregame press conference. "We had to win in Seattle. He pitched that game. He threw the ball well. He's our freshest guy. And they're a team that does a lot of platooning. And lefty or righty, they were going to match up. And we felt like he's the guy to go right now."

Heaney made the start last Saturday at Seattle and pitched 4 1/3 scoreless on five hits, throwing 85 pitches. He also threw nine scoreless innings combined over his past four games with three of them out of the bullpen.

Also, while Heaney had that poor start in April against the Orioles, on May 27 in Baltimore he allowed just one run over seven innings to the Orioles.

Today we’re taking a look at two more free agent pitchers. We previously, in this blog entry, presented some stats and facts related to free agent pitchers Taijuan Walker, Chris Bassitt and Jameson Taillon. We did the same for Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea in this entry.

Today let’s take a look at two pitchers MLBTradeRumors.com has ranked as the No. 18 and No. 21 available free agents in this class.

Lefty Andrew Heaney: Heaney is No. 18 on the free agent list. I don't believe he will get a contract as strong as the one predicted by MLBTradeRumors.com: three years for $42 million.

On the negative side, there is an injury history here, and Heaney is certainly not an innings-eater. But what some front offices will also see is how the Dodgers turned him into a two-pitch pitcher in 2022, resulting in some pretty strong swing-and-miss and strikeout rates.

For his career, Heaney, 31, is 36-42 with a 4.56 ERA and 1.245 WHIP. He's posted a career walk rate of 2.5, a 9.7 strikeout rate and a 1.6 homer rate. His homer rate was 2.0 in 2021 and was 1.7 last year for the Dodgers. But perhaps the O’s front office will see a lefty here who would benefit greatly from the deeper left field wall in Baltimore. For his career, his OPS against is .780 versus right-handed batters and .679 against lefties.