A moment of silence was held Tuesday before the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers took the field, in memory of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Skaggs, 27, who pitched for the Angels, was found unresponsiveMonday in a Hilton hotel room in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, police said in a statement. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Skaggs’ image was displayed on the electronic billboard in Globe Life Park in Arlington before Tuesday’s Major League Baseball game. Angels players wore Skaggs’ number — 45 — on black patches on their uniforms in their first game since his death.
Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney grabbed Skaggs’ jersey and held it with another player during the moment of silence.
“We all feel tremendous loss. We understand that life has to go on and the baseball season has to go on, and it’ll move forward at different paces for different guys,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said before the game.
“They’ll be ready to play, but it’ll be with heavy hearts, and it’ll be with heavy hearts probably for a while.”
Monday’s game, the first of a four-game series against the Rangers, was postponed after Skaggs’ death.
Foul play is not believed to be a factor, police said. It doesn’t appear that suicide was the cause of death, Southlake Police Officer Brad Uptmore said.
The cause of death is awaiting in autopsy report.
