Major League Baseball on Thursday issued suspensions to two Nationals players and two Red Sox for their roles in Tuesday night’s benches-clearing brawl at Fenway Park.
Nationals starter Cade Cavalli and Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras — the main culprits — were suspended seven games. Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas was handed a five-game suspension, and Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton received a three-game ban.
Each player was also fined an undisclosed amount. The suspensions are scheduled to begin Friday, unless appealed. Mikolas was scheduled to start Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cavalli was the scheduled starter for Monday’s game against the Houston Astros.
In the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game, Cavalli struck out Contreras looking and yelled, “Sit down, boy,” at him. He yelled loudly enough that NESN, Boston’s broadcast network, picked up his shout.
In the United States, the word “boy” has historically been used to belittle nonwhite men, particularly Black men.
Contreras stopped walking back toward the dugout and appeared to ask Cavalli, “Are you talking to me?” Cavalli said postgame that he responded, “Yeah, you heard me.”
Contreras then charged toward Cavalli, leading both benches to clear. At one point, Contreras tried to throw his helmet toward Cavalli and instead hit Washington first baseman Andrés Chaparro.
Cavalli expressed regret Wednesday morning and said he was not aware of the racist context of calling someone “boy.”
“There’s a history behind that word, and that’s just something that as a competitor, like in football or in basketball, playing ball with my brother, you don’t understand it, and then it gets perceived in a way that was not my intention,” he said.
Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said Cavalli was not going to face further punishment from the team because it didn’t believe he meant to belittle Contreras for his race.
“His choice of words was not ideal and, candidly, I think he was unaware it might have induced a negative reaction from folks,” Toboni said. “But we talked a lot about that, and I think now he understands it. I think it’s something that in the past he’s used in the spirit of competition with his brother, with his dad, whoever it might be.”
Tensions between Cavalli and Contreras started in the first inning, when Contreras brushed past the pitcher on his way back to the dugout.
Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy and Contreras said the first baseman apologized for that — and there’s video of Contreras looking back and gesturing that it was his bad — but Cavalli didn’t see the gesture.
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