ANAHEIM, Calif. — There were moments, standing on the Angel Stadium mound Wednesday night, that Andrew Heaney thought of the best friend that was no longer with him.
Tyler Skaggs, No. 45. Being honored by Heaney, who is wearing the number for the first time in his career this season.
“It is a number that has meaning to me,” said Heaney, now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, after a 3-0 win against the Angels. “But at the same time, it’s not my number. It’s my number. But I’m wearing it because it was his number.”
Heaney spent seven years in Anaheim, where the two became very close. Skaggs died on July 1, 2019 after ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl provided to him by Angels communications director Eric Kay.
The Angels and the Skaggs family remain embroiled in a contentious wrongful death civil case, scheduled to go to trial in September.
But for Heaney — who pitched one of his best-ever games at Angel Stadium on Wednesday — the emotions transcend all of the legal matters that have dominated the public discourse surrounding Skaggs and his life over the past six years. He threw six shutout innings, allowing one hit and zero walks, while striking out nine batters.
“It’s kind of a cool thing,” he said. “It always feels there’s sort of a little bit of a presence here.
“I take wearing that (number) seriously. It’s important to me. I’ve got it f–ing tattooed on my wrist.”
Heaney said when he signed with Pittsburgh, he told the team that when numbers came open at the end of spring training, he wanted to switch from the No. 0 that he’d been originally assigned.
And sure enough, No. 45 became available. When he pitched for the Rangers the past two seasons, the closest number open was No. 44. He joked that he was OK with it — referencing a poker term that pocket fours are fake aces.
“I thought it was funny to be a fake ace out there on the mound,” Heaney said.
There was nothing fake about what he accomplished on Wednesday. Pitching on a team with arguably the game’s most famous ace, Paul Skenes, Heaney has been Pittsburgh’s best starting pitcher. And looked the part against the Angels.
He struck out the first six batters he faced, and retired the first 13 overall. Heaney was completely in command in a way that didn’t manifest itself in Anaheim, a place he posted a 4.51 ERA over 102 starts.
“I never pitched well here,” Heaney said. “I don’t know, I don’t ever feel comfortable here. So it’s good to have a good one.”
Heaney remains close with his late friend’s family. Skaggs, the extrovert, was the one that helped bring Heaney out of his shell. That made him feel comfortable on the Angels, and as a big leaguer writ-large.
In the years since, Heaney has gone on to win a World Series, collect 10 years of service time and start a family. All things he wanted to celebrate with his friend.
Instead, he had to testify at Kay’s criminal trial in 2022. And he may well have to testify again at the civil trial. A process that brings back difficult memories. It has not been an easy process to mourn his friend, as everything has played out in the backdrop. Particularly as the Angels appear to be funding Kay’s legal defense.
“In the most respectful way, I just try to stay out of it as much as I can,” Heaney said. “Some of it, I can’t stay out of, obviously.”
What he did on Wednesday, however, was honor Skaggs.
It might not be Heaney’s number. In his mind he’s just the vessel for it. But on the mound that Skaggs and Heaney used to call him, he represented No. 45 admirably.
(Top photo of Andrew Heaney: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)