Brewers' Gomez quickly bounces back from beaning, fuels win in Detroit
If there were any questions as to how Carlos Gomez would respond to taking a 97 mph fastball to the head, the All-Star center fielder answered them with one swing Monday night.
Gomez homered in his first at-bat after Sunday's beaning and later drove in the winning run with a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning of Milwaukee's 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
"It's not about me, it's about we lost two games in a row and came here in Detroit to face a good team," Gomez said. "To get a 'W' is big. To see (Brewers starter Mike) Fiers throw the ball like that today, and see the bullpen come really strong. This is what we're supposed to do.
"Personally, I feel really good. But generally, it's about the 'W.'"
Gomez passed the concussion protocol after Noah Syndergaard's 97 mph fastball hit him in the earflap of his helmet during the fifth inning of Milwaukee's 5-1 loss to the Mets on Sunday.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he never had to even consider sitting Gomez on Monday.
"He passed all the tests (Sunday)," Counsell said. "I took him out (Sunday) more because you're shook up when that happens. It doesn't matter what was said to me when I went out there (Sunday); he was coming out of the game.
"But as long as the doctor clears everything and he felt fine and he wanted to play, he was good for (Monday)."
Gomez sent the third pitch of the game over the left field wall for a solo home run off Tigers left-hander Kyle Lobstein. It was just his fourth home run of the season and just his eighth career home run on an 0-2 pitch.
"I had to do my best to take advantage and be aggressive," Gomez said. "He threw some pitches over the plate and I drove it out to left field."
With the score tied at 2-all in the seventh, Martin Maldonado extended the inning with a two-out single to left. Gomez followed with a base hit back up the middle to score Luis Sardinas, who narrowly avoided the tag of Tigers catcher James McCann on his slide into the plate.
Before Monday's game, Gomez told reporters he exchanged text messages with Syndergaard to let the rookie right-hander know there were no hard feelings after the beaning.
Gomez also took to Twitter to pass a similar message along to Syndergaard.
"(Thanks) for the concern bro, it's part of the game," Gomez tweeted. "Thank God I'm ok. Keep up the good work, (you are) going to be a great pitcher!"
The run driven in by Gomez in the seventh held up as the winning run thanks to solid relief work by Jeremy Jeffress, Jonathan Broxton and Francisco Rodriguez. After striking out Rajai Davis to end the sixth with a pair of runners in scoring position, Jeffress worked around a two-out single and stolen base to pitch a scoreless seventh. Jonathan Broxton allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach in the eighth but got out of trouble by getting Victor Martinez to hit into a double play and striking out J.D. Martinez.
In the ninth, Rodriguez induced pinch-hitter Yoenis Cespedes to hit into a double play to end the game.
"There's no question we have a great bullpen," Gomez said. "We've had a slow start, but we have a good bullpen. When the starting pitcher throws six innings and then you throw JJ, Smith, Broxton and (Francisco Rodriguez), it is done. We have to continue to do the job and we'll be fine."
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