Willson Contreras is going above and beyond to fire his Boston Red Sox teammates up this year. His efforts have resulted in two consecutive ejections, as well as ejections for two other Red Sox.
In the second inning of Boston's June 30 game against the Washington Nationals, Contreras struck out looking on the sixth pitch of the at-bat against Cade Cavalli. As Contreras walked back to the dugout, Cavalli shouted something at him, to which he took serious offense.
Contreras approached the mound, jawing back at Cavalli, and the benches cleared, but not like the way they did in the previous series against the New York Yankees. Contreras charged at Cavalli — it took about five people to hold him back — and hurled his helmet into the scrum after it fell off his head.
The confrontation was brief and Contreras never landed a punch on his target. During replays, Cavalli could clearly be heard telling Contreras, "sit down, boy," after his strikeout — to which Contreras was right to take offense. Interim manager Chad Tracy tried to advocate for Contreras before his seemingly inevitable ejection, but ended up getting tossed himself.
Red Sox's Willson Contreras ejected from second consecutive game after confrontation with Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli
Willson Contreras throws his helmet during a benches clearing incident after Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli told him to “sit down boy” pic.twitter.com/IBEyYXKReN
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 1, 2026
It took over 10 minutes for umpires to rule on ejections. Contreras, as well as Nate Eaton (who was not in the starting lineup) and Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas were ejected. Eaton and Mikolas went after each other off to the side of the main scrum. Cavalli remained in the game, despite his infraction.
The ejection is Contreras' second in as many games. He was tossed the previous night for tapping his helmet (as if calling for an ABs challenge) to express his disagreement with a check swing call from first base umpire Nic Lentz.
Contreras didn't seem to do or say anything to encourage Cavalli's comment that set him off. Contreras is known for his passion and hot-headedness when he plays and Cavalli likely knew he could bait him into a brawl.
Contreras has played with even more emotion than usual over the past few days, as the devastating earthquakes that rocked Venezuela on June 24 have taken a toll on him. To acknowledge his country, Contreras on June 29 took an extra-long trot around the bases after he homered off Mikolas in the series opener — perhaps Cavalli took it personally.
If players know Contreras will battle during games, it's easy to lead him, one of the Sox's best bats, into trouble. He's going through something many Americans can't imagine and he deserves grace for it. But throwing one's helmet is a guaranteed ejection, and Contreras should know the Red Sox need him to keep their winning streak alive.
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