WATCH: Baseball umpire floored by sickening blow to the head; soldiers on

Even though the St. Louis Cardinals crushed the New York Mets by a score of 7-0, the highlight of the game was stolen by the MLB umpire. The umpire of the match was shockingly hit by a ball in the face. Social media users went crazy after watching the incident.

Mets' Francisco Lindor hit the ball towards the Cardinals' shortstop, Edmundo Sosa, in the second innings. On receiving the ball, Sosa went to pass the ball towards first base. However, the ball never reached the first base and instead hit baseball umpire, Junior Valentine. The umpire was focused on making a call as Mets' Kevin Pillar was running towards the first base. As a result of the incident, the St. Louis Cardinal players were left in distress as they were concerned about the umpire's well-being.

Ball hits Baseball umpire: Social media reacts

Even though the incident was horrifying, one fan attempted to take a step back and find some humour in it. He hilariously called the MLB umpire getting hit a "Cardinal sin" as the St. Louis Cardinals were in action. A 'Cardinal sin' refers to incidents where there is a serious error of judgement as there was in this situation.

Another fan was interested in receiving a response from other umpires to understand who was at fault.

In response, one fan said that when he 'umpired about 45 years ago,' they were 'taught to always watch the ball.' He went on to add that if an umpire were to closely watch the ball, he would see 'it and the runner get to the base at about the same time.'

Image: Twitter/@purobeisbolmx