BOSTON — Things got heated at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, when Nationals righty Cade Cavalli struck out Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras looking on a 3-2 sweeper to get the second out of the fourth inning.
What initially looked like a routine strikeout became a lot more when Cavalli, as caught audibly by television microphones, shouted, “Sit down, boy!”
Contreras, who plays with a burning fire every day but especially of late, appeared to mouth back, “Are you talking to me?”
After that, Contreras moved toward Cavalli, and a bench-clearing fracas ensued. Contreras, who never could get to Cavalli, fired his helmet in the direction of the Nats’ ace, which creates a chance he will face discipline from MLB.
“We’ll see. I let MLB handle that,” said Contreras.
While some pushing and shoving went on, no punches were thrown as the game was delayed nearly 11 minutes.
This time, he wasn’t alone. Red Sox utility player Nate Eaton, who wasn’t playing in the game, got ejected along with interim manager Chad Tracy.
On the Nationals’ side, righty Miles Mikolas, who started on Monday night, was the only player ejected. All four ejections were from crew chief and second-base umpire Vic Carapazza.
Tracy found it unfair that Cavalli stayed in the game, which was the root of his first ejection as a Major League manager.
“I felt as though the comment made, ‘Sit down, boy,’ at the top of [his] lungs was part of what caused that to happen,” said Tracy. “I just felt like the other pitcher should have been one of them too. That was my biggest complaint there [was], ‘Why is he still in the game?’ That was my take on it.”
Contreras and Cavalli also had their takes.
Was it the choice of Cavalli’s words that set Contreras off?
“Not really,” said Contreras. “I think it was more like the fact that he yelled whatever he said. Because, prior to that, I was talking to [Nationals catcher] Keibert Ruiz, you can go ask him, about how good Cavalli is. I was like, ‘He has good stuff,’ even asking if he was a trade guy or a farm [system] guy, and then he struck me out on a good pitch. I was walking back to the dugout, then he did what he did. The rest of it was history.”
Contreras didn’t assume there were any racial overtones to Cavalli calling him “boy.”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” said Contreras. “I’m Venezuelan. I don’t know if he’s racist or not. I’ll let MLB handle that.”
Did Cavalli remember exactly what he said to Contreras?
“I don’t know, I just lose my head in it. I mean, I’m competitive. I just told him to sit down, and then he asked if I was talking to him,” Cavalli said. “I was just standing there, I said, ‘You heard me.’ It’s really not a big deal. So that’s it.”
Cavalli indicated he was set off by something less noticeable earlier in the game. In the first inning, after Contreras was stranded on base to end the inning, he walked across the field and sort of cut Cavalli off, brushing the pitcher with his arm as he went by.
“You don’t run by me and just brush me going off the field,” Cavalli said. “It’s just not something you do in this game. I didn’t say anything [to him] in the moment. I struck him out; words were said [then].”
Contreras said he apologized to Cavalli in the moment.
“I apologized. I felt something unnatural [as I was walking],” said Contreras. “I was like, ‘My fault.’ If he thinks that was on purpose, it wasn’t.”
If Contreras did apologize, Cavalli said he didn’t hear it.
“I never got an apology from anyone,” said Cavalli. “It’s just a weird thing. I think we all know Willson – he’s an extremely competitive guy, he’ll do stuff to try to get under your skin. So I just brushed it off. I’m walking off the field, I stop, and he obviously sees me and just gets as close as he can, brushes me with his arm. I was just caught off guard by it.”
Other than Contreras throwing his helmet, the most memorable thing that happened during the melee was Mikolas and Eaton shoving each other like wrestlers.
“When something like that happens, you get out there and you do your best to de-escalate the situation. But you still want to go out there and look tough,” said Mikolas. “You go out there, you look for somebody you know from the other team, maybe, and you pretend to grab ‘em around or whatever.
“It doesn’t happen often, it’s not something you necessarily enjoy, but maybe you enjoy it a little bit because you don’t get to get out there and roughhouse as an adult very often. The big thing is, you don’t want to go out there and hurt anybody. No one’s punching anybody out there or anything like that.”
It has been a whirlwind few days for Contreras, who has been vocal about how unsettled he’s been by the earthquakes that took place in his native Venezuela six days ago.
Then came the events of Monday night. When Contreras unloaded for a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, he let out every emotion in his body.
He flipped his bat high in the air and shouted “Venezuela!” to the dugout as he started his trot around the bases. Contreras then cried for several minutes once he got back to the bench and was consoled by coaches and teammates.
An inning later, after he was called out for not checking his swing, he tapped his helmet sarcastically as if calling for an ABS challenge. He was ejected by first-base umpire Nic Lentz.
After Monday’s game, Contreras acknowledged there isn’t much of an off switch right now when thinking about the devastation in Venezuela. He also acknowledged guilt for not being able to be there to help with relief efforts.
“I have extreme respect for [Contreras],” said Cavalli. “My heart goes out to Venezuela. I understand what he’s going through. It breaks my heart what he’s going through. But there’s a certain level of respect that you have for other players, and I have respect for him.”
