BOSTON — Willson Contreras has found himself at the center of a handful of kerfuffles as a member of the Red Sox this season. On Tuesday, tensions boiled over in the fourth inning against the Nationals.
With Boston leading 1-0, Contreras struck out looking against Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli, who froze him on a sweeper in the zone. Cavalli then appeared to yell something in Contreras’ direction, and the first baseman heard it. At that point, while walking back to the dugout, Contreras turned toward the mound, apparently to ask Cavalli if he was talking to him.
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Contreras and Cavalli kept jawing as catcher Keibert Ruiz tried to calm Contreras down. Interim third base coach Chad Epperson came over to defuse the situation as the dugouts cleared. Then, chaos ensued.
Contreras broke free from Ruiz and Epperson and ran toward the scrum on the field, where Jarren Duran was in the middle of some arguing with Nationals players. Contreras, lunging in Cavalli’s direction, then tried to spike-throw his helmet toward the pitcher but instead appeared to strike first baseman Andrés Chaparro, who was tangled up with Caleb Durbin. From there, the pushing and shoving escalated.