Major League Baseball moved quickly after Tuesday’s Nationals-Red Sox brawl, handing out suspensions to four players involved in the chaos.
Washington starter Cade Cavalli was hit with the heaviest penalty from the league office, a seven-game suspension for initiating and taking part in the incident. His rotation mate Miles Mikolas received a five-game ban. On the Boston side, first baseman Willson Contreras was suspended seven games for his actions during and after the fracas, while backup infielder Nate Eaton got three games for his role in the fight.
All four players were also fined an undisclosed amount. They all have the right to appeal, and that’s expected to happen. If the suspensions stand, they would begin tomorrow, since both clubs are off tonight.
Contreras’ punishment was increased because of a separate violation tied to social media use during the game, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. After being ejected, the three-time All-Star went on Instagram and replied “come meet me at Fenway” to a fan who had insulted him while the game was still in progress.
The flashpoint came in the fourth inning, when Cavalli struck Contreras out looking. As Contreras headed back to the dugout, Cavalli yelled “sit down, boy” and that set off the confrontation that brought both benches onto the field. Contreras then went toward the mound and later threw his helmet during the scrum.
There was also lingering tension from the first inning, when Cavalli took issue with Contreras brushing past him as they headed to their dugouts at the end of the frame. Eaton and Mikolas were not in the game, but both were ejected for fighting once the benches cleared.
Cavalli was not tossed from the game, and he stayed in long enough to deliver seven scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts in what was the best outing of his career. Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy criticized the umpires for not ejecting Cavalli, and the league’s discipline suggests the office felt action was warranted.
Contreras, who is Venezuelan, and Tracy both declined to say whether they believed Cavalli’s use of the word “boy” carried a racial meaning, according to ESPN. Cavalli addressed the situation in a statement yesterday, saying that was not his intent and expressing regret over his choice of words.
“I’m extremely torn up about the way that things were perceived,” Cavalli said. “Obviously, there was no ill intention behind that.
My teammates know me, my family knows me, this organization knows me. I couldn’t sleep because of it.
It hurt my heart, knowing that if there’s a 13-year-old Black kid in D.C. that sees that - that looked up to me and thinks that he perceived it in a way that wasn’t intended the way that it came out, and then he’s not looking up to me anymore - that hurts my heart.”
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