“Travis Snider tried to punch me, and everything started there” - When Carlos Gomez opened up on his suspension after refusing to apologize
In 2014, former Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez was involved in a physical confrontation with then-Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Travis Snider. The pair were a part of a four-member group who were suspended for a fixed set of games because of their involvement in the skirmish.
The incident took place in the top of the third inning when Gomez faced then-Pirates starter Gerrit Cole. With the game scoreless and 2 outs in the third innings, Gomez hit a flyball but admired it for too long, even adding a lit bit of a bat flip. The ball, though, didn't go over the fence, and it ended up being a triple for the Dominican.
This piece of showmanship didn't land well with Cole, who after the completion of the play, went up to Gomez at third base and started hurling insults at him. That seemingly angered the outfielder who also charged at the starter.
A few players separated the two, but Pirates' Travis Snider got involved, and a physical confrontation between him and Gomez ensued. Martin Maldonado came to Gomez's rescue immediately after, throwing a few punches at Snider himself.
"I get to third base, and somebody’s screaming at me – ‘It’s not your job.’ But everything’s over, and (Travis) Snider comes real angry and talks to me that way, so I responded back, he tried to punch me, and everything started there. I don’t know why they’re mad for something like that," Gomez said.
Carlos Gomez claimed the Pirates misinterpreted his bat-flip
In 2013, in a game agaisnt the Braves in September, Carlos Gomez had pulled off something similar when he admired himself hitting a home run for far too long that brought the ire of starter Brian McCann who confronted Gomez as he trodded the bases.
Gomez claimed that even though he might have been in the wrong for the incident there, he didn't want to apologize and called it a misinterpretation of behalf of the Pirates.
"That (Atlanta) game I know I go over (the line). But today I’m not. First of all, I hit a triple – it’s not a double – I’m not flipping my bat because I think it’s a home run.
"I thought it was an out. I thought it was a fly-ball out, line-drive center field. And I’m kind of like, ‘Oh, I had good contact, but I don’t think it’s going out," Gomez added.
Carlos Gomez would go onto win an All-Star cap in 2014 before departing at the completion of the next season.