Contreras throws helmet at Cavalli as Red Sox, Nats brawl

Tuesday was fight night at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals brawled after Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras exchanged words with Nationals starter Cade Cavalli.

Cavalli yelled "Sit down, boy" at the Red Sox slugger after striking him out in the fourth inning. Contreras responded to him verbally and began to walk toward the pitcher, causing both benches and bullpens to empty. Contreras then broke free of Nats catcher Keibert Ruiz, who was trying to stay in front of him, and threw his helmet at Cavalli in the middle of the scrum.

"He struck me (out) on a good pitch, I was walking back to the dugout, and then he did what did, and the rest was history," Contreras said after his team's 8-1 loss, according to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald. "... He was like, instigating, and I snapped."

Contreras, Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy, Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton, and Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas were all ejected once order was restored. Eaton and Mikolas were tossed for getting into their own punch-up off to the side.

Cavalli, however, was allowed to continue pitching, which irked the Red Sox. Tracy confirmed postgame that the Red Sox dugout heard Cavalli's words clearly, and he felt that it was grounds for an ejection.

"(I) felt as though the comment made, 'Sit down, boy,' at the top of your lungs, was part of what caused that to happen," Tracy said, per NESN. "After everything that happened, the people that they chose that were going to leave the game, I just felt like the other pitcher should have been one of them too. That was my biggest complaint."

Cavalli, who recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts over seven innings, explained that he was upset with Contreras for running into him as he left the mound in the top of the first inning.

Both Tracy and Contreras said that the first baseman apologized to Cavalli immediately. However, the right-hander claimed to have not heard any apology, according to WEEI's Rob Bradford.

"It's just part of the game. We have respect for each other," Cavalli said, according to Marcos Grunfeld of ElEmergente.com. "... I didn't say anything in the moment (in the first inning), and, you know, I strike him out, words were said. We don't want that to happen. We were just competitive."

Tuesday marked the second straight ejection for Contreras, who was tossed by first base umpire Nic Lentz on Monday after tapping his helmet following a check-swing strike-three call in the second inning. He became the first player in Red Sox history to get tossed in consecutive games, according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston.

In the first inning of Monday's game, Contreras launched a long home run over the Green Monster and punctuated the blast with a bat flip. The Venezuelan was emotional and shouted his country's name while rounding the bases. Venezuela is reeling from a series of devastating earthquakes last week that have killed at least 1,900 people.

"My heart goes out to Venezuela. I understand what he's going through," Cavalli said. "It breaks my heart what he's going through, but there's a certain level of respect that you have for other players, and I have respect for him. But you don't run by me and just brush me while I'm going off the field. It's just not something you do in this game."