Mariners no-hit in emotional night in Anaheim

ANAHEIM -- The Mariners found themselves on the wrong end of an incredible baseball moment on Friday night at Angel Stadium. In the Angels’ first home game following the sudden death of teammate Tyler Skaggs on July 1, the Mariners were no-hit, a combined effort by Taylor Cole and Felix Pena.

All the Mariners could do as they left the dugout following their 13-0 loss was proverbially tip their caps, knowing they were merely an incidental detail in what will be remembered as one of the great games in MLB history.

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Skaggs’ memory loomed large over the evening, with every Angels player donning his name and number on the back of their jerseys. After a pregame ceremony paying tribute to Skaggs’ life and career, an emotional Halos lineup came out swinging against starter Mike Leake, with the first four batters reaching base and 13 men total coming to the plate in the inning.

In what was the shortest start of his career, Leake got only as far as two outs in the first and was by no means at his sharpest. But the Angels’ batters looked to be motivated by a higher purpose. Facing them on a night like Friday would’ve given any pitcher a tough time.

“They were definitely ready, ready to go,” Leake said. “They seem like they’re kind of catapulted in a way. It should be tough to face them the rest of the year, I would think.”

Just as locked in as the Angels’ hitting was the Angels’ pitching. Only one Mariners batter reached base, as Omar Narváez drew a one-out walk against Pena in the fifth. The rest of Seattle’s lineup was quieted by Cole for two innings and Pena for seven.

“There’s baseball gods, I’ve always said it,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s a crazy game we play. There’s a lot of emotion tied to it. You’re very close with the relationships you have with the people that you spend so much time with over the course of a season and a career, so it’s crazy how things happen.

“We’re not happy about the no-hitter, but certainly they executed, they played a very good game tonight.”

Once Mallex Smith’s grounder to second was converted into the game’s final out, the Angels rushed the field. In an impromptu tribute to Skaggs, each member of the team removed his No. 45 jersey and placed it on the mound.

Watching from the Mariners’ dugout was Dee Strange-Gordon, for whom the situation was all too familiar. As a member of the Marlins in 2016, he also experienced the in-season death of a teammate in Jose Fernandez. His leadoff home run in the Marlins’ first game after Fernandez’s passing is the most memorable hit of his career to date.

Though he was on the other side this time, the significance of what the Angels did was not lost on him in the slightest.

“I got one thing to say, and I said it three years ago, and I’m gonna be done with it: If you don’t believe in God, you might wanna start,” Gordon said. “I said it three years ago when I hit the homer for Jose. They had a no-hitter today. Y’all better start. And that’s all I got.”

Although the circumstances surrounding Friday’s no-hitter were unlike any before, it marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Mariners have been no-hit, and the second time that it was the result of an Angels combined effort. Mark Langston and Mike Witt did it on April 11, 1990, at what was then called Anaheim Stadium. That was the first time the Mariners had ever been no-hit.

The second time was May 14, 1996, when Dwight Gooden did it for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The most recent instance prior to Friday was Philip Humber’s perfect game for the White Sox on April 21, 2012, at then-Safeco Field.

While being no-hit will always be a tough pill to swallow for any team, the Mariners seemed to understand that Friday night was so much bigger than one individual game.

“If that doesn’t give you chills or that doesn’t make you put life in perspective, I don’t know if you have a heartbeat,” first baseman Daniel Vogelbach said. “You start thinking about all the people that were affected by that situation, and especially you watch his mom and family walk out there, and just … we’re worried about if we get a hit or we win a ballgame, and they lost their son. So hats off to them and prayers for them, because I couldn’t imagine going through what they go through.”