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Jeff Passan ESPN
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- ESPN MLB insider
Author of The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports
WASHINGTON — Francisco Lindor pulled his bottom lip down. The inside of his mouth was bloody, the outside cut and swollen. And despite it all, he said he feels lucky.
“I got really lucky,” Lindor told ESPN on Friday night, hours after an 88mph fastball from Steve Cishek hit the C-flap protruding from his helmet, bouncing off his face and leaving a trail of blood. “It could have been a lot worse.”
The night after his New York Mets star Pete Alonso suffered a similar hit from a Washington Nationals pitcher, Lindor carried a throw to the face in the fifth inning, resulting in an incident in the Mets’ 7-3 win at the Nationals led in which the benches were cleared by Park, who improved their record to 2-0 at the start of the season.
Mets manager Buck Showalter emerged from the dugout angry and screaming after Lindor became the fourth New York player to be hit in the first two games — three of them on up-and-in spots. Referees threw out Cishek, crew boss Mark Carlson told a pool reporter, for “further escalating the situation … by getting close to the scuffle.”
“When it hit him, I was shocked,” Cishek said. “I don’t think I’ve ever hit a left-handed player in the face or in the head before. I lowered my head. My first intention was to go there and see if he was okay. When I did that, I realized it was a bad idea because I just kind of fueled the bench on the other side.”
Lindor, the 28-year-old shortstop in his second season with the Mets, had braced himself for Bunt, and Cishek said he wanted to throw a high-and-in sinker. It just went higher and further in than he had planned. Lindor said the bad luck might have cracked one of his molars. X-rays looking for broken bones were negative, and Lindor passed tests for a concussion.
When asked if he thought the throw was intentional, Lindor said: “I doubt it,” and that he appreciates that Cishek came to apologize and shake his hand as he received medicals received help.
“It was unintentional,” Cishek said, “and I wish it had never happened.”
After spending a few moments face down in the batter’s box, Lindor got up and paced amid the commotion during which no bats were thrown. He wore a live microphone, and the Apple TV+ show later played an audio clip of him telling Showalter, “No, no, you’re not taking me out.” Lindor exited the game in fifth place and finished at the Replaced shortstop by Luis Guillorme.
“I’m proud to be a New York Met,” Lindor said. “I was hit. I was down. i heard things
Of them, Showalter and third-base coach Joey Cora were the most eager. Both remained in the Mets’ dugout after the hit-by-pitch. Nationals third base coach Gary DiSarcina was also fired, Carlson said, “for his aggressive behavior during the bank sack.”
Lindor said he hopes to play in the Mets game Saturday, like Alonso did the day after Mason Thompson hit him in the face with a 95-mile fastball and left similar marks, with cuts to the inside and outside of his lower lip. Mets catcher James McCann was also hit by an Andres Machado pitch in the first game, although he avoided getting hit in the face.
Showalter said after the first game that he was “not happy” with the hit-by-pitches and reiterated his displeasure after the Lindor incident.
“It’s pretty self-explanatory,” Showalter said. “I got hit by another shot. What can I say?
“The referees thought it was worth kicking out. I’ll leave it at that.”