Red Sox's Willson Contreras Escalates Altercation With Nationals' Cade Cavalli, Throws Helmet In Heated Exchange

Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras was ejected for the second straight game.

Washington Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli said something to Contreras after striking him out in the fourth inning of Tuesday's game, which drew a reaction from the Red Sox clean-up hitter.

Part of that reaction included throwing his helmet, which led to a benches-clearing tussle:

Nationals insider .css-wrcrjw{margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-3nqh9c{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:rgba(var(--br--palette-primary-mainChannel) / 0.4);margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-3nqh9c:hover{text-decoration-color:inherit;}.css-lu48cp{margin:0;font:inherit;color:var(--br--palette-primary-main);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:rgba(var(--br--palette-primary-mainChannel) / 0.4);margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-lu48cp:hover{text-decoration-color:inherit;}Mark Zuckerman reported Contreras, manager Chad Tracy and outfielder Nate Eaton, who didn't even start, were ejected from Boston's side, while Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas was ejected on the other side.

This comes after Contreras was ejected from Monday's game between the same two teams for tapping his helmet on the way back to the dugout after he was called out for a failed check swing on strike three.

While hitters can challenge balls and strikes by tapping their helmet in the immediate aftermath of a pitch, they cannot challenge the check swing. What's more, it came well after the strikeout as he was heading back to the dugout.

There is surely some frustration in place for Boston, which entered Tuesday's contest in last place in the American League East at 37-46. 

Contreras has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season and was slashing .282/.376/.533 with 18 home runs and 53 RBI before Tuesday's contest. However, the team didn't have his offense for the entire game two nights in a row due to ejections.