Look: Cubs catcher Yan Gomes wears football helmet after perfect game tackle

Cubs catcher Yan Gomes leaned into the jokes about his future as a linebacker after tackling Drew Smyly to end his perfect game bid.

Cubs fans turned up to Wrigley Field on Friday to watch a baseball game against the Dodgers and they got the best of both worlds: A slugfest for Chicago’s batters racking up a 13-0 lead along with a perfect game bid from pitcher Drew Smyly.

Then, in the top of the eighth, they got a football game instead.

Smyly’s perfect, no-hit bid ended on a David Peralta swinging bunt which put the ball on the ground between the pitcher and catcher. While Smyly reached down to grab the ball and make a play at first, catcher Yan Gomes crashed into him like a linebacker.

Jokes about Gomes’ future in football exploded on Twitter from NFL fans to Adam Schefter impersonators.

Cubs catcher Yan Gomes wore football helmet after tackling Drew Smyly

Gomes took it all in stride, even embracing the trolling over his tackling skills. When he turned up for his postgame interviews, he wore a Cubs football helmet.

It was a brutal way to lose a perfect game, but inside the Cubs clubhouse it doesn’t seem they’re taking the disappointment to heart. Manager David Ross made light of the tackle during his postgame press conference while Smyly was all smiles with Gomes in the immediate aftermath of the tackle.

It sure looked like Smyly might have had a chance to beat Peralta to first but it would have been close. Gomes may have been clumsy but given the awkward placement of the hit, he was just trying to make a play. The Cubs aren’t going to hold that against him.

In any case, Chicago got the win, 13-0, as revenge for Thursday night’s loss to the Dodgers after a ninth-inning grand slam by James Outman.