Willson Contreras socks three-run homer in win

Contreras was a surprise snub from the initial rosters that were released Saturday, but the 34-year-old is unsurprisingly going to be a part of the festivities. Even if Contreras was to start serving his suspension — he’s appealing a seven-game ban currently — he should be available to play in Philadelphia.

Contreras’s 20th homer came in his 86th game of the season. Last year, he hit 20 in 135 games for the Cardinals. He’s now just four shy of his career high from 2019, when he hit 24 in 105 games for the Cubs. Unfortunately, this might be Contreras’s last action for a bit. MLB is expected to hand down a decision on his appeal of a seven-game suspension on Monday. Even if it’s dropped to six games, that’d still put him out until after the break.

Cavalli was also suspended for seven games, while Miles Mikolas got a five-game ban and Nate Eaton was levied a three-game suspension and all were handed undisclosed fines for their roles in the fracas. All of the suspensions will start on Friday unless they are appealed. Even if Contreras does have his suspension reduced by a game or two, he’s still going to miss at least a handful of games, much to the detriment of fantasy managers.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Contreras is likely to face a suspension after he threw his helmet at Nationals starter Cade Cavalli during a bench-clearing dustup at Fenway Park following a verbal altercation. He was 0-for-2 with a strikeout prior to the fourth-inning ejection. The 34-year-old was also tossed during Monday’s series opener.

Contreras was ejected by first base umpire Nic Lentz for tapping his helmet while walking back to the dugout following a second-inning strikeout. He was apparently upset after Lentz wrung him up on a check swing to end the at-bat. He launched a three-run homer off Nationals starter Miles Mikolas in his first at-bat of the contest. It will go down as one of the more absurd ejections of the entire season to put it mildly. Contreras has been involved in a number of bizarre incidents during his Red Sox debut, but his on-field production has remained at elite levels, hitting .282/.376/.533 with 18 home runs and 53 RBI through 81 games.

Contreras more or less took over this game early with a run-scoring single in the first inning against Yankees’ starter Will Warren followed by a towering, 418 foot, 112 mph moon shot against him in the third. Then, next time out, he walked on a pitch that brushed against his front elbow. As usual, Contreras didn’t take too kindly to being pitched inside, flipped his bat on the walk, and began barking towards the visiting dugout. A brouhaha ensued with both benches clearing, which is all in a day’s work for Contreras. Apart from his usual antics, Contreras has been the Red Sox’s most reliable hitter this season with 17 home runs, a .281 batting average, and .901 OPS so far.

It sure would be nice if the Red Sox could get more runners on for Contreras, but he entered today 76th in the majors in plate appearances with RISP. It’s actually pretty impressive that he’s tied for 21st in RBI anyway, but a lot of those are just him driving in himself; he has 16 homers and 43 RBI on the year. He’s now two-thirds of the way to his career high of 24 homers from 2019.

Contreras blasted his 14th homer of the season in the first inning off of Rangers starter Jack Leiter to put the Red Sox up 2-0. Contreras would single in the fifth inning in what turned into a four-run inning for the Red Sox, and later doubled home Wilyer Abreu in the eighth inning in his final at-bat. Contreras continues to swing a hot bat for the Red Sox in June and is slashing .333/.421/.727 on the month with three homers and eight RBI.

Contreras got his first RBI on a little chopper with a projected landing distance of one foot; Ryan Weathers was able to go to his right to get it, but he couldn’t make the accurate throw to first under pressure. The other two came on a 113-mph homer projected at 419 feet. Contreras has five RBI the last two days and 38 for the season. He’s eighth in the majors with a .934 OPS.

Contreras’s homer off Andrew Kittredge wasn’t very important in an 8-1 game in the ninth, but it boosted his OPS to .919, which is 10th among qualified major leaguers. His current career high is .888 in 105 games with the Cubs in 2019.