The Boston Red Sox over Fourth of July weekend completed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels, but had an elephant in the room the whole time — Willson Contreras' looming suspension.
After a June 30 confrontation with Washington Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli, during which Contreras attempted some punches and threw his helmet into the gathering crowd of players, the first baseman was hit with a seven-day suspension. He appealed while the MLB offices were closed for the holiday weekend and he's still awaiting the league's ruling.
Contreras has been playing with a lot on his mind lately, particularly the two massive earthquakes that have caused destruction and devastation in his home country of Venezuela, but he maintained focus to play his best in Anaheim. He logged four hits, including two, three-run homers, and two walks against the Angels. Unsurprisingly, he was Boston's most impactful player at the plate, as he has been for much of the season.
During the Sox's trip to California, Contreras apologized for his emotions which led to the confrontation with the Nationals, as well as a bases-clearing incident against the New York Yankees the series before.
Willson Contreras apologizes for emotions that led to scrum with Nationals, impending Red Sox suspension, and showed he means it
"They won't understand why I'm apologizing now, but I think it's something that is important for me to do because I feel that, again, it was an emotional time and those situations could have been avoided and controlled and handled better," Contreras said through tears on July 4 (via Courtney Holloman of MLB.com).
Contreras has certainly had a lot on his plate after the earthquakes in Venezuela — he's been a part of the Red Sox's efforts to raise funds for recovery efforts in his country and the emotional toll hasn't been easy on any of the Sox's Venezuelan players. But Contreras has seemingly realized that the Red Sox are about to be without him for at least a few days and he made up for it by leading the charge at the plate in California.
Contreras doesn't have the typical personality for a clubhouse leader but he's been thrust into that position with Boston. His level of emotion while he plays isn't a bad thing and his intensity has even gotten the Sox going a few times, but he seemingly understands that he went overboard against the Nationals. Contreras' two clutch homers were a great way to make up for his impending absence and his commitment to avoiding others is reassuring for the Red Sox.
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