It was a wild night at Sutter Health Park on Friday, as the home team, the Oakland Athletics, secured a thrilling walk-off win. However, to get to victory against the Los Angeles Angels, a 26-year-old Athletics player had to pay the price. As his team won the series in extra innings, the hitter took a scary blow to the face.

With the score knotted at 11, Zack Gelof was at the plate with runners on second and third. On the first pitch, Kirby Yates launched a 90 mph fastball that sliced through the air straight at Gelof. The ball hit his earpiece hard as Gelof’s helmet flew off his head from the impact. Gelof immediately went down to the ground. The incident is a glaring example of how important helmets are in baseball. Talkin’ Baseball posted the entire scary sequence on X.

“Scary moment as Zack Gelof gets hit directly in the head with a fastball but he is okay,” wrote the X handle.

Though the visuals of the incident were jarring, the hitter seemingly escaped the incident without any serious consequences. Gelof stood up on his own power and even gave a thumbs-up to show that he was alright. However, trainers and Athletics manager Mark Kotsay also checked up on him on the field. Gelof stayed in the game and walked to first.

Though Gelof was lucky to avoid any serious injury, the same could not be said about all Athletics hitters. On April 13, Max Muncy, not to be confused with the Dodgers star, suffered from an HBP while playing against the Texas Rangers. Though he initially tried to play through the injury, an MRI later revealed a fractured metacarpal in his left hand. The Athletics then placed Muncy on the 10-day IL, who was recently reinstated in June.

Zack Gelof’s hitting streak sets franchise history

Against the Angels on Friday, Zack Gelof extended his hitting streak to 23 games. With his sixth-inning RBI single, Gelof recorded the longest active streak in MLB. It also marked the second-longest hitting streak this year.

His hitting ranked the 26-year-old fifth in all-time Athletics history. It reportedly marked the longest streak for an Athletics hitter since 2002.

He is hitting .286 with 11 homers and 30 RBI in 60 games this season.

On Friday, Gelof’s RBI single helped the Athletics chip away at the 7-run lead the Angels set in the sixth inning. Jacob Wilson, Muncy, and Jonah Heim all launched two-run shots to level the score at 11 by the bottom of the ninth. Following which, Kurtz’s 10th inning walk helped secure the 12-11 win after Gelof’s HBP loaded the bases.