Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets experienced their first benches-clearing incident of the season Friday against the Nationals.
Reliever Steve Cishek fired one inside that nailed Francisco Lindor in the head, prompting Mets manager Buck Showalter to lead the charge onto the field. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner joined him, along with both bullpens as the teams intensely mingled on the field. Showalter and Hefner fiercely stood up for their shortstop.
The incident was due in part, of course, to the Mets’ first game of the season on Thursday, when three Mets batters were plunked by Nationals pitching.
“It’s dangerous,” Showalter said before Friday’s game. “If he doesn’t have command, you can’t let him pitch in there, or you can’t let him make your club.”
Showalter was visibly furious and vocal as he stormed the field. As the situation progressed, Hefner was notably irate, engaging in face-to-face confrontation with Nationals manager Dave Martinez and other Washington coaches. Nationals third base coach Gary DiSarcina, formerly a Mets coach, was ejected for escalating the situation.
By all accounts, the pitch location was unintentional. Cishek apologized to Lindor and assured him it wasn’t on purpose, while Martinez also insisted it wasn’t intentional and that he also would have been “pissed off” if the roles were reversed. Cishek was ejected, but not for any determination of intent. Crew chief Mark Carlson said after the game that Cishek was ejected for continuing towards the mob instead of staying out of it.
Still, Showalter, Hefner and the others who participated in the debacle showed a willingness to stick up for their player who was put in a dangerous situation. Alluding back to Showalter’s point, this kind of thing simply can’t happen regularly because of the injury risk that comes with it. Regardless of if the pitch was intentional or not, Showalter is making his leadership mentality clear by displaying that he’s going to fight for his players. Two games in, the new Mets skipper is already making a difference on the culture.
“I’m proud to be a New York Met,” Lindor said. “I got hit, I was on the ground, I heard scuffles, I look up and my whole entire team is out there… That says a lot. Super proud to be a New York Met and be with this group of guys.”
Lindor laid on the ground for several seconds after the pitch, decompressing and recovering from the hit. After the game, it was revealed that he was hit in the cheek/jaw area, and he cracked a tooth. Showalter repeated several times how lucky Lindor was that that was the extent of the damage.
Lindor said he hopes to be in the lineup Saturday, when the Mets take on the Nationals in the third game of the season at 7:05 p.m ET. Chris Bassitt will be on the mound looking to help the Mets improve to 3-0.
