Red Sox slugger Willson Contreras offers emotional apology for role in bench-clearing incidents
Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras offered an emotional apology for his involvement in a pair of bench-clearing incidents against the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals this past week
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras offered an emotional apology for his involvement in a pair of bench-clearing incidents against the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals this past week.
Contreras, who is appealing the seven-game suspension he received from Major League Baseball for his part in a heated dispute with Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli Tuesday night, had just finished addressing reporters about his All-Star snub when he continued to speak through his interpreter in Spanish.
“One thing I want to add, on the record,” Contreras said before Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels, “is an apology for all of the events from last week, all of the things that occurred when the Nationals and Yankees (were at Fenway Park) are very hard. It was a very emotional time for me.
“(People) won’t understand why I’m apologizing now, but I think it’s something that’s important for me to do, to apologize because I feel that it was an emotional time, and those situations could have been avoided and controlled and handled better.”
Benches cleared when Contreras stared down Yankees starter Will Warren last weekend, but the incident did not escalate.
Recommended for you
But Tuesday night, when Cavalli shouted at Contreras after striking him out looking at a full-count pitch, Contreras threw his helmet at Cavalli and approached him on the mound. The two began jawing at each other, and both dugouts and bullpens emptied.
Contreras, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning Saturday night–his 19th of the season–fought back tears as he processed the fallout from his on-field turmoil and the struggles of his native Venezuela, which was hit by two powerful earthquakes this past week.
“It’s been a really tough week, an emotional week for me,” Contreras said. “I hope that (people) understand how emotional it’s been. I’ll prove myself with my actions on the field moving forward and show them the kind of person that I truly am.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.