TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Details were revealed concerning drug use in Major League Baseball during the second day of Eric Kay’s trial Wednesday. The former Los Angeles Angels employee is accused of giving pitcher Tyler Skaggs the opioids that ultimately led to his death.
Skaggs was in Dallas to play the Texas Rangers in the summer of 2019, when he was found dead in his Hilton hotel room.
The jury heard from Skaggs’ mother, as well as testimony about the illegal drug use in the major leagues.
Former Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney continued his testimony too Wednesday.
Defense attorneys are trying to show that Skaggs could have gotten drugs from any number of people, because he wasn't the only Major League player using illegal drugs.
When Heaney was asked on the stand, "There are other guys in major leagues that take illegal drugs?"
He said, "Yes."
But Heaney testified that he never knew Skaggs used opioids.
Two employees for the Angels also testified what happened on July 1, 2019, when they found Skaggs dead.
They said multiple people on the team, his wife, his mother and others were trying to reach him.
When they could not find him. The team's head of security went into the room and found Skaggs lying face down on the bed.
He said he saw the pitcher the night before and he seemed okay.
Prosecutors said the last person to see Skaggs alive was Kay, when he went to Skaggs' hotel room to provide him pills that had fentanyl.
Skaggs' mother took the stand to talk about the moment she learned about her son's death.
“It was a horrible day. It was the worst day of my life. I was angry. I knew my son loved life and would not have wanted to die. He didn’t know there was poison in that pill that killed him. He might still be alive today if someone in that room could have helped save him.”
Defense attorneys on cross examination asked her if she knew her son's former teammate, Eric Smith with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He allegedly was her son's drug dealer when they played together in Arizona. She said, no.
More baseball players are expected to testify over the coming days.