Buck Showalter said he wasn’t happy after Pete Alonso was hit in the face by a pitch in the Mets season opener on Thursday, the third Met hit by a pitch that evening.
So, 24 hours later, when another one of his players was hit in the face, it was safe to say the manager was furious.
Francisco Lindor took a pitch off the chin guard on his helmet, nearly the same spot Alonso was hit the night before, and Showalter, along with the rest of the players and coaches, poured out of the dugout in concern and frustration.
Showalter was livid, barking towards the umpires and the Nationals, who were clearing their dugout as well.
“Pretty self-explanatory. Got hit with another pitch,” Showalter said. “I don’t know what you want me to say.
“Times like that when it’s the fourth one, I don’t want to really hear about intent. Those things can’t happen.”
Showalter didn’t speculate on whether the pitch from Steve Cishek was intentional or not, but agreed with the decision to eject the Nationals reliever.
“The umpires thought it was worthy of an ejection, so I’ll leave it at that,” Showalter said, declining to reveal what he said to the umps during the heated exchange. “It’s a good move I thought by the umpiring crew.
“They understood our frustration.”
Following the frustration of seeing one of his players hit for the fourth time in two games, two taking a fastball to the face, Showalter was simply relieved that both of his stars hit in the head area both seem to be OK.
“He’s lucky. He passed concussion protocol,” Showalter said of Lindor. “I don’t know how he didn’t have more damage…he’s lucky. That’s scary, initially.”