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Mariners marvel at Angels' no-no

John McCoy / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Los Angeles Angels kicked off the second half of the season with their first home game since the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. With the entire team wearing their late teammate's No. 45, they no-hit the Seattle Mariners on Friday, leaving their opponents in awe.

"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," Mariners infielder Dee Gordon told Sarah Wexler of MLB.com.

Back in 2016, Gordon was a member of the Miami Marlins team that lost Jose Fernandez during an in-season boating accident. In their first game following Fernandez's death, the light-hitting Gordon belted one of his 18 career home runs in a leadoff at-bat.

"I said it three years ago when I hit the homer for Jose," continued Gordon, who went 0-for-3 in Friday's 13-0 loss. "They had a no-hitter today. Y'all better start. And that's all I got."

Mariners slugger Daniel Vogelbach added, "If that doesn't give you chills or that doesn't put life in perspective, I don't know if you have a heartbeat. 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."

Vogelbach and the rest of the Mariners got to watch Debbie Skaggs, Tyler's mother, throw out the ceremonial first pitch, delivering a perfect strike on the day before what would have been her son's 28th birthday.

Taylor Cole and Felix Pena went on to combine for the no-hitter, teaming up to strike out eight Mariners while allowing one baserunner - a fifth-inning walk to Omar Narvaez.

Even Seattle skipper Scott Servais was awestruck by the circumstances of his team's loss.

"There's baseball gods, I've always said it," the manager told Wexler. "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."

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