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BOSTON — In the aftermath of the fourth-inning fireworks between Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras and Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli on Tuesday night, the Red Sox accused Cavalli of crossing a line with comments toward Contreras — and said they believed he should have been thrown out of the game, too.
After striking Contreras out looking for the second out of the fourth inning, Cavalli appeared to yell something at Contreras, causing the fiery slugger to stop in his tracks on his way back to the dugout, ask Cavalli if he was talking to him, and then charge toward the mound. The benches cleared as Contreras threw his batting helmet in Cavalli’s direction. After the brawl, four people — Contreras, Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy and outfielder Nate Eaton as well as Washington pitcher Miles Mikolas — were ejected.
Tracy said he was ejected for telling the umpires Cavalli should be ejected.
“I felt as though the comment made — ‘Sit down boy,’ at the top of your lungs — was part of what caused that to happen,“ Tracy said. ”Understood after everything that happened the people they chose that were going to leave the game. I just felt like the other pitcher should have been one of them, too.
“I heard that from where I was sitting,” he added. “Interesting choice of words. I don’t know how many he struck out at that point and (he chose) that choice of words in that spot right there. Players nowadays yell and scream about stuff but not having said a word and then happens, I just felt like that was part of the equation and I don’t know why he was still in the game.”
Contreras said he charged Cavalli mainly because he had yelled in his direction. The exact words were less of a reason, according to the first baseman.
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“He was instigating and I snapped,” Contreras said. “That happened.
“I think it was more the fact that he yelled whatever he said. Prior to that, I was talking to Keibert Ruiz — and you can go ask him — how good that guy is. He has good stuff. I even asked him if he was a trade guy or farm guy, like raised from the farm. He struck me out on a good pitch. I was walking back to the dugout and he did what he did. The rest was history."
In Washington’s clubhouse, Cavalli said: “I just told him to sit down. He asked if I was talking to him. I said, ‘Yeah, you heard me.’ I was just standing there and said, ‘You heard me.’ It’s really not a big deal.
“I thought he would just hear me and understand we’re competitive. People tell everybody to ‘sit down’ at some point in their career. It’s not a big deal.”
Tracy declined to comment on if he thought the comment from Cavalli directed at the Venezuelan Contreras was racially motivated. Contreras did not make that accusation, either.
“To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m Venezuelan. I don’t know if it’s racist or not. I’ll let MLB handle that,” Contreras said.
From Cavalli’s side, the incident stemmed from a first-inning incident between the two players. As the inning ended on a Jarren Duran flyout, cameras caught Contreras — then a baserunner — running close to Cavalli on his way back to the first base dugout. Cavalli took exception to that and was therefore fired up for his next battle with Contreras.
“I’m walking off the field. I stop, and he obviously sees me and gets as close as he can, brushes me with his arm,” Cavalli said. “It’s just a weird thing. I was just caught off guard by it... He’ll do stuff to try to get under your skin.
“There’s a certain level of respect you have for other players. I have respect for him. But you don’t run by me and brush me going off the field. It’s just not something you do in this game. I didn’t say anything in the moment. I struck him out, words were said. We don’t want that to happen.”
Tracy said cameras did not catch Contreras apologizing to Cavalli, something the first baseman also claimed he did.
“I apologized,” Contreras said. “I felt something and I turned around like, ‘My bad, my fault.’ If he thinks that’s on purpose, that’s not.”
Cavalli disagreed.
“I never got an apology from anybody,” the righty said.
Contreras, who has been involved in a handful of benches-clearing incidents — but none as serious as Tuesday’s — so far this season, faces the possibility of a suspension. He was ejected for the second straight night after getting tossed Monday for mockingly tapping his helmet to simulate an ABS challenge after getting called out on a check swing. From the home clubhouse, where he watched the final five innings of an 8-1 Red Sox loss, Contreras thought Cavalli should have been ejected, too.
“I feel like everything’s against me right now,” Contreras said. “Got ejected last night for nothing. Ejected today even though I was walking back to the dugout.”
Cavalli struck out 13 Red Sox hitters and retired the last 19 he faced.
“He threw the ball well,” said Tracy. “He was throwing harder than he has in a while, up to 100 mph and the breaking balls were very, very sharp. (IT was) apparent pretty early as you watch the stuff we were gonna have trouble with that and you can give him credit for that. He was good. But should he have still been in there? I don’t know.”
More Red Sox coverage
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- Cade Cavalli ‘extremely torn up’ about perception of ‘sit down, boy’ comment toward Willson Contreras
- After Red Sox-Nationals brawl, MLB investigation includes Willson Contreras’ Instagram comments
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