The span of an inch or two made all the difference for Carlos Gomez on Sunday.
The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder found himself flattened at home plate after taking a 97-mph Noah Syndergaard fastball to the head during the sixth inning of his team’s 5-1 loss to the New York Mets.
Syndergaard lost control trying to run a heater up and in on the righty, and the ball caught Gomez square in the face guard of his batter’s helmet. That material was all that prevented a Giancarlo Stanton-esque nightmare from playing out at Citi Field, and the outfielder managed to pass the concussion protocol after leaving the game for evaluation.
The scary incident was purely accidental, and Syndergaard’s first remark after the game was to relay a message of concern for Gomez’s well-being, per the Associated Press (h/t FoxSports.com).
“I hope Gomez is OK,” Syndergaard said. “It’s never really happened. [The accident] kind of rattled me a little bit.”
Images emerged of Gomez’s post-fastball face. He had a red temporary tattoo in the shape of a face protector imprinted on his jaw and cheek:
Now, traditional baseball man-law decrees that this incident should belch forth into existence a pointless blood feud between Milwaukee and the Mets—a hateful war of attrition that must be continually stoked with beanballs, bruised hips and mound-charges until no one can remember how it even started in the first place.
Not the case here. In a mutual showing of sportsmanship, Gomez and Syndergaard exchanged kind words on Twitter and put the incident behind them:
And that’s how grown-ups handle themselves.
Dan is on Twitter. If you use a special cheat code, you can say nice things to people on social media. It’s crazy.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com