For Carlos Gomez, the best measure of revenge after getting hit by a pitch is hitting a long homer and staring at it. Gomez was ejected Wednesday night after he launched a home run ball off Braves pitcher Paul Maholm and admired it, inciting the benches to clear and a couple of punches to be thrown as he jawed at members of the Atlanta Braves while rounding the bases.
Gomez was hit in the knee by a fastball from Maholm during a June 23 game between the two clubs at Miller Park, and after going deep off of him during the rubber match between the two squads at Turner Field in the first inning, he appeared to believe his best course of revenge was to stare at the ball as it left the yard.
Braves catcher Brian McCann was the first to take exception, screaming at Gomez to, "Run!" and Gomez began to yell back as he slowly rounded the bases and even got into it with first baseman Freddie Freeman. As he rounded third, McCann blocked his path to the plate and started to scream some more at him while the benches began to clear and a few punches were thrown.
"I've never seen anything like it in my baseball career, whether it be the big leagues, minor Leagues or little leagues," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of the incident.
The home run trot turned into a bit of a brawl as the benches cleared and the Braves' Reed Johnson connected with a punch to Gomez's head while Freeman nailed Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the face with a forearm shot. Ramirez left the game in the third with a leg injury.
While Gomez's temper flared during the game and he had to be pulled away from teammates as the dust-up extended all the way to the backstop at Turner Field, he admitted after the game that he may have taken it a little too far.
"I did a little bit more [than I should have], and I apologize for this," Gomez told MLB.com. "But if you see the replay [from June], they hit me for no reason, and I tried to get it back today. It's the only opportunity that I have, and that's what I did."
Gomez even took to Twitter to further apologize for his conduct:
The way I carried myself on the field is unacceptable, I should have done better to control myself and set a good example.
— Carlos Gomez (@C_Gomez27) September 26, 2013
Again my apologies to everyone that I may have offended I truly regret it. Thank you and have a good night God Bless. #CG27 — Carlos Gomez (@C_Gomez27) September 26, 2013
"It's nothing against the organization, for the Braves," Gomez told MLB.com. "I respect everyone. I would do the same thing if I'm on the other side if a guy did like I did today. Defend my teammate. But they are not in my head and on my side -- they hit me for no reason."
Gomez, Freeman and Braves backup catcher Gerald Laird were all ejected following the fracas while Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse led the Brewers to a 4-0 victory with a two-hit shutout.
Gomez told MLB.com after the game that he stared at the homer as a reaction to Maholm having hit him with pitches twice previously, including the one in June that caused Gomez to limp for two weeks which he indicated was "not fun."
Maholm didn't stand for it.
"Obviously, he held on to it. I guess every guy that hits him, he's going to decide to act like that," he said per MLB.com. "I've hit plenty of guys, I've given up plenty of homers. He's not the first, he's not the last, but I'm probably going to say he's the last guy who's going to act like that when he hits a homer."
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said that "both ends of it were excessive," when discussing the situation after the incident while also adding that he spoke to Gomez after the game.
"[We discussed] just the whole thing," the manager told MLB.com. "Great, he hit a home run off him, but get down the line. But it's not all Gomey's fault. Somebody starts yelling at you, and he's hot-tempered, and then you get everybody yelling at him the whole way, a guy standing in front of home plate. So he's not the only one that's to blame."
The Brewers (71-87) close out their season on the road with a four-game set with the New York Mets while the NL East champion Atlanta Braves (93-65) close out their regular-season and gear up for the postseason with a four-game tilt at home against the rival Philadelphia Phillies.
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