Cavalli vs Contreras Bench Clearing | Washington Nationals News

**Corey** (0:00)
On July 1st, so, the Nationals took down the Red Sox Tuesday night, a solid win, but things got heated on the field.
In the fourth inning, pitcher Cade Cavalli struck out Willson Contreras and, well, let's just say he got a little loud with his celebration, yelling, sit down boy, that set off Contreras and pretty soon the benches cleared. This wasn't the first bit of friction between them that game. Earlier, in the first inning, Contreras apparently cut off Cavalli's path to the dugout, which Cavalli felt was disrespectful.
The Red Sox manager said, Contreras apologized for that, but Contreras himself wasn't really talking about it afterward, not even addressing if he thought Cavalli's comments were racist. The situation really escalated when Contreras, after being separated, charged back in and threw his helmet, hitting a Nationals player. That's when things went from a scuffle to a near brawl. Pitcher Miles Mikolas got involved and ended up being one of four people ejected along with Contreras, another Red Sox player and their manager. Mikolas actually tried to play peacemaker initially, attempting to hold back Contreras, who used to be his teammate. But it wasn't enough to prevent the chaos. The league hasn't announced any punishments yet, and these two teams are still set to play again on Sunday. It's just one of those baseball moments where emotions run high. You see it sometimes, a little bit of history, a comment, and suddenly, the whole game is on pause. We'll have to wait and see what the league decides about any penalties.
I'm Corey with the story. That's your Washington Nationals News Today update, AI powered and always on.