Yan Gomes Leaves the Game in the Second Inning (UPDATES)

This is potentially quite bad, given how disproportionately important Yan Gomes has been for the Cubs’ pitching infrastructure this year.

For reasons not yet known – though he did get hit on a backswing – Gomes was replaced by Tucker Barnhart in the 2nd inning tonight:

Yan Gomes has left the game in the 2nd inning with Tucker Barnhart replacing him.

Here he is in the dugout: pic.twitter.com/nKMRuHfCJ1

— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) May 1, 2023

More details soon on what’s going on. Hopefully Gomes is OK if he got hit hard in the head by a backswing. That’s scary stuff.

And, although probably not a one-to-one relation, Lane Thomas hit a home run off of Drew Smyly as soon as Barnhart entered the game.

UPDATE: The Cubs confirmed that it was the backswing hit that led to Gomes’ departure, and he’s under further evaluation:

Cubs announce Yan Gomes was pulled ahead of the second inning as a precaution after being hit in the head with a backswing . He'll be evaluated.

— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) May 2, 2023

They won’t say explicitly that it’s an evaluation for a concussion, but it’s not a huge leap to suggest that could be the case. Hopefully he didn’t suffer one, and this can just be a one day bit of caution. Scary thing to take a bat to the head.

UPDATE 2: So far, Gomes is not officially in the concussion protocol, which is good news because it means he MIGHT not miss time:

Gomes is not officially in concussion protocol, per Cubs, and they will continue to evaluate him overnight/morning.

— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) May 2, 2023

Hopefully Gomes wakes up feeling fresh as a daisy, and it was just a whole lot of understandable caution.