Sometimes moments happen that can bring a sports team together, help them deal with tragedy and help them persevere and can make them stronger.

On a special night in July 2019, the Los Angeles Angels came together and put on a remarkable performance one week after being dealt sudden tragedy.

On July 1, 2019, while the Angels were in Texas, they were given a sudden shock as star young pitcher Tyler Skaggs was found dead in a Texas hotel room.

On July 12, 2019, the Angels returned home and played in front of their home fans in Anaheim for the first time since the death of their teammate Tyler Skaggs.   What the Angels did that night was something truly spiritual and remarkable. They would honor their fallen teammate in the most perfect way.

Everyone on the team wore his 45-jersey number with his name on the back. Skaggs’ mother Debbie threw out the first pitch to Skaggs’ close friend on the team, pitcher Andrew Heaney. 

The Angels offense came out blazing hot, scoring seven runs in the first inning. On the first pitch he saw, Angels star outfielder Mike Trout hit a two-run home run right over where the Angels had a plaque with Skaggs’ face on it. Trout would go 3-4 and had six runs batted in. Angels would win in a rout 13-0.

Now on the pitching side of things: Taylor Cole and Felix Pena threw a combined no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners allowing only one base runner all night.

Now for some crazy symbolism: Angels scored seven runs in the first inning and 13 runs overall and 13 hits overall. Tyler Skaggs’ birthdate was 7/13/1991. Yes, that no-hitter was thrown on the eve of what would have been his 28th birthday.

Now there’s this: July 12, 2019, was the first no-hitter in the state of California since July 13, 1991, the same day that Tyler Skaggs was born. Now doesn’t that give you goosebumps. That was truly amazing and beautiful. It feels like there was something spiritual, something magical that made that special night possible.

Everything happens for a reason and the Angels will always have a special angel watching down on them forever.