Tensions flare, benches clear in Nationals-Red Sox game after Cade Cavalli shouts at Willson Contreras

BOSTON — With the Nationals trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, Cade Cavalli struck out Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras looking and had some choice words for him.

Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said that he heard Cavalli loudly yell, “Sit down, boy.” Cavalli acknowledged that he told Contreras to “sit down” multiple times but did not include whether or not he said “boy.”

As Contreras was walking toward the dugout, he appeared to ask Cavalli, “Are you talking to me?” Cavalli said postgame that he responded by saying, “Yeah, you heard me.”

Contreras then charged toward Cavalli. Catcher Keibert Ruiz tried to calm Contreras down but failed.

Contreras exploded and escaped the grasp of his teammates, who were trying to calm him down as Contreras and Cavalli jawed back and forth. The first baseman grew angrier, and both benches cleared.

“I just lose my head in it. I’m competitive,” Cavalli said. “I just told him to sit down, and then he asked if I was talking to him. I said, ‘Yeah, you heard me.’”

The term “boy” has a racist history in the U.S. Contreras, who is Venezuelan, demurred when asked if he felt there was a racial component to Cavalli’s response.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Contreras said, later adding that he plans to “let MLB handle that.”

When asked after the Nationals’ 8-1 win over the Red Sox, Cavalli said that tensions started when he was walking off the field in the first inning. Contreras, who was on second base, walked into Cavalli’s path after the inning ended on a flyout and brushed the pitcher with his shoulder. Cavalli said that Contreras “obviously saw me.”

“I was just caught off guard by it,” Cavalli said. “I think we all know Willson, he’s an extremely competitive guy, he’ll do stuff to get under your skin.”

Tracy said Contreras apologized after brushing past Cavalli, but Cavalli said he “never got an apology from anybody.” Contreras told reporters that he told Cavalli, “If he thinks that’s on purpose, it’s not.”

“It’s just not something you do in this game,” Cavalli said.

In the middle of the fourth-inning fracas, Contreras tried to throw his helmet toward Cavalli and instead hit first baseman Andrés Chaparro. Manager Blake Butera said that Chaparro was OK afterward. Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas, who pitched Monday, tossed a guy to the ground.

“It’s the middle of the season, [and] you got two teams that are fighting for spots, and emotions run high,” Mikolas said. “These things happen, you get fired up and then you put it behind you.”

The umpires issued warnings to both teams. Tracy, Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton and Contreras were all ejected, as was Mikolas.

Mikolas was teammates with Contreras for three seasons with the Cardinals. He said that he didn’t talk to Contreras tonight but that he thinks the two are still friends.

“He plays with a lot of emotion, and that’s one of the things that I loved about him as a teammate,” Mikolas said. “Sometimes your emotions run over, and there’s consequences for that. That was the result of it today.”

Boston fans booed Cavalli every time he ran out from the dugout to begin an inning.

“I could hear it every inning I would run out there,” Cavalli said. “I get it, they love their team. We love our team. It’s just part of the game.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story has been updated.