BOSTON -- Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli apologized Wednesday for shouting "sit down, boy" at Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras while instigating a benches-clearing scrum a night earlier.
"I'm extremely torn up about the way that things were perceived," Cavalli said. "Obviously, there was no ill intention behind that."
Cavalli shouted at Contreras after striking him out looking with a full-count pitch in the fourth inning of the Nationals' 8-1 victory over the Red Sox.
The term "boy" has a racist history in the United States. Contreras, who is Venezuelan, demurred when asked after the game if he felt there was a racial component to Cavalli's word choice, adding that he plans to "let MLB handle that."
"My teammates know me, my family knows me, this organization knows me," Cavalli said. "I couldn't sleep because of it. It hurt my heart, knowing that if there's a 13-year-old Black kid in D.C. that sees that -- that looked up to me and thinks that he perceived it in a way that wasn't intended the way that it came out, and then he's not looking up to me anymore -- that hurts my heart."
When asked, Cavalli said he understands the meaning behind the word used.
"There's a history behind that word, and that's just something that as a competitor, like in football or basketball, playing whiffle ball with my brother, you don't understand it," Cavalli said. "And then it gets perceived in a way that was not my intention, and then you learn from that. It'll never happen again."
The 27-year-old right-hander said he didn't realize the public outcry on social media until he got back to his hotel room.
"I looked at my phone, and I saw what people were saying about me. Saw how torn up my wife was. It hurt my heart," he said. "I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't. Because I know that people know me, and they know my character, and that's not me. So it was hard. I truly didn't sleep last night."
Contreras was walking back to the dugout after striking out and yelled back at Cavalli: "Are you talking to me?" A few words were exchanged, and Contreras charged the mound. He was stopped before he got to the pitcher but tried to throw his helmet over a group of players at Cavalli.
Things settled down quickly after that, though the brief dustup ended with Contreras, Boston interim manager Chad Tracy, Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton and Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas being ejected.
Contreras hit a three-run homer off Washington's Miles Mikolas on Monday and celebrated with a massive bat flip for which he later apologized. Cavalli on Tuesday had pointed to an incident at the end of the top of the first when Contreras nearly ran into the pitcher as both exited the field as the spark that set things in motion.
Cavalli said Wednesday that he hadn't apologized to Contreras yet, but he hopes he hears his explanation.
"I have not reached out to him. I know that we're both competitors. I hope that he hears this and he understands that was not what was intended at all," Cavalli said. "I think he knows that. But if I see him, I want to make sure that he knows that."
