Tyler Heineman is a good brother. But he’s also a Giant, and his competitive streak came out before Saturday’s game, the first in which the Heineman brothers will play against each other in the big leagues.
Tyler is catching for the Giants. Scott is playing center field for the Rangers.
"It's still the Rangers versus the Giants, and the most important thing is the Giants come away with the W," Tyler said. "I'd be very happy with him going 0-for-4 with four lineouts somewhere hard."
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Tyler, the starting catcher for the Giants right now, said he's "very excited" for the matchup but also had some nerves. Friday night's game was their first meeting in the big leagues, but neither started. It lined up Saturday, and perhaps not by accident. Rangers manager Chris Woodward and Giants manager Gabe Kapler were with the Dodgers at the same time and hatched a plan for the pre-game festivities.
The Heinemans met at the plate for the traditional pre-game lineup card exchange with the umpires. While lineup cards are not physically handed over this year because of new safety rules, there is still a meeting every night, and Woodward suggested the idea to Kapler, who said he immediately thought it was "awesome."
"The thing I think is most cool about that is how his mom and dad are going to feel," Kapler said of the matchup. "That's one of the things I talked to with our Heineman, Tyler, about how cool that is for a mother and father to see their kids play in a major league game. I can tell you that as a father of two sons, one who was a quarterback and one who was a tailback, when one handed the ball off to the other, I don't think I've ever been more proud in my life."
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San Francisco Giants
The parents were already bursting Friday night when the sons found out they would both be starting the next game. Asked who would be watching, Tyler smiled and said "every single person that I know."
"My dad is extremely nervous as well as my mom, but they're also very excited," he said. "(My dad) texted everyone starting from last night."
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