Andrew Heaney allows four home runs in a six-batter span in Yankees debut

Yankees fans came to the Bronx on Monday night to see the team’s two new marquee additions, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo.

They also got to see Andrew Heaney, a lefthanded starting pitcher the Yankees acquired from the Angels just before Friday’s trade deadline.

The fans didn’t like what they saw from Heaney, who allowed four solo home runs in a six-batter span against the last-place Orioles as the Yankees lost, 7-1, at Yankee Stadium.

Gallo went 1-for-3 with a walk and picked up the Yankees’ first hit. The problem was Gallo’s double to the right-centerfield wall came leading off in the sixth inning with the Yankees already trailing 6-1.

The Yankees were held hitless for the first five innings by Orioles righthander Jorge Lopez, who came in with a 2-12 record and 6.19 ERA.

The Yankees actually got a run before they got a hit on two walks and a sacrifice fly by Rizzo in the fifth.

Rizzo went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch after going 5-for-9 in his first three games as a Yankee. Gallo went 1-for-12 in his first three games, but the Yankees won all three in Miami and were riding high after having won five of their last six.

The Yankees finished with three hits against four Orioles pitchers. They received seven walks and the one HBP but went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The biggest excitement for the home fans came during an eighth-inning cat delay.

A gray-striped feline made its way onto the field during an Aaron Judge at-bat and kept the crowd enthralled as it eluded purr-suers from the grounds crew for a few minutes.

The cat ran along the outfield wall from leftfield to left-center and back again. The cat’s attempts to scale the bullpen fence were unsuccessful but highly entertaining to the fans, who clearly were rooting for the cat as it was surrounded by security personnel but escaped again.

Finally, the furball was coaxed into an open door near the stands down the leftfield line and the game continued.

Yankees fans probably expected the balls to fly out of the yard during the game the way they did in batting practice, when Rizzo, Gallo and Judge were in the same grouping. Early-arriving patrons were treated to a power show preview.

They probably didn’t expect the in-game power show to come from the Orioles.

First it was Cedric Mullins, who launched a two-out homer to right in the third for the game’s first run.

Three pitches later, Austin Hays homered to left to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.

Trey Mancini hit a long fly to center — the crowd braced for the worst — to end the inning.

The barrage against Heaney continued when Ryan Mountcastle led off the fourth with a homer to left. One out later, Ramon Urias hit a drive into the Baltimore bullpen in left-center to make it 4-0.

As the boos rained down on Heaney, Pedro Severino doubled off the centerfield wall. It nearly was home run No. 5.

Pitching coach Matt Blake paid a visit to Heaney and lefthander Joely Rodriguez started warming in the bullpen.

Heaney was saved from further carnage when Gallo made a leaping catch of Maikel Franco’s drive to the warning track in left for the second out. Finally, Heaney struck out Pat Valaika to end the inning.

Heaney, who allowed six hits with no walks and four strikeouts, entered the game with a 6-7 record and 5.27 ERA for the Angels. In 94 innings, he had allowed 16 home runs.

Heaney was acquired for minor league pitchers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero.

"Excited to see him go out there," Aaron Boone said before the game. "We think we got a really good pitcher, a guy that we feel like is a guy that can really give us quality innings . . . Feel like you look at the peripherals this year and they're probably a lot better than even his ERA would suggest."

Rodriguez, whom the Yankees picked up from Texas in the Gallo trade, replaced Heaney to start the fifth. He allowed two runs in the sixth on a pair of sacrifice flies.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.