Willson Contreras adds some spice to rivalry while his thoughts turn to earthquake victims in Venezuela

Let’s be honest, the historic rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees has become a little staid in recent years.

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The actual games are still fun, but the undercurrent of bitterness and possibility of a brawl has been missing. The teams now even make fairly regular trades with each other, something once considered unthinkable.

So welcome to the party, Willson Contreras.

The easily agitated Red Sox first baseman homered to left field in the third inning of Friday night’s 6-1 victory against the Yankees. The 418-foot solo shot cleared everything in left field.

When Contreras came to the plate again in the fifth inning, Yankees starter Will Warren walked him on six pitches. Three of them were fastballs up and in. That wasn’t some coincidence.

Contreras flipped his bat on the way to first base, then exchanged a few angry words with Warren and the Yankees dugout. The benches and bullpens cleared.

Bill Lee vs. Graig Nettles it was not, just some milling around for a short time before the umpires warned both teams against retaliating. But you can’t start a fire without a spark, so at least it was something.

“Just part of the game,” Contreras said.

Did he think Warren was trying to knock him off the plate?

“Many people can look at it in a different way,” he said. “I look at it one way.”

Contreras is familiar with rivalries, having played for the Cubs and Cardinals before being traded to the Sox in December. He’s all for a little tension.

“I think it’s good for baseball. It makes baseball fun,” he said. “Everything you guys saw tonight is part of the game. I think so many people are trying to take that away from the game. I think we need a little bit more of that saltiness in the rivalry. I’ll say that.”

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“Why? It makes baseball fun. I think it engages more people.”

Preach on, Willson.

Contreras is hitting .281 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs with the Sox two games away from the midpoint of the season. He’s never hit more than 24 homers during his career or driven in more than 80 runs.

The Sox made some big mistakes building their roster, as evidenced by their 34-46 record. But obtaining Contreras wasn’t one of them. He should be an All-Star.

Contreras had some fun talking about the little dust-up, then turned serious when asked about the devastating twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela earlier this week. Nearly 1,000 people are confirmed dead.

“It’s really tough to see what’s going on in Venezuela … like from life,” Contreras said. “It’s sad to live through this. It’s really hard to separate or fake that we are good because we have to work. I mean, we’re professional. We have to show up and work.

“But it’s really tough when you know what’s going on in Venezuela. You’re here playing for your team, trying to win the game, trying to perform, and at the same time trying to seek ways to help.”

Contrera said he would rather be back home helping to look for survivors.

“That’s where my heart went,” he said.

Contreras has nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram, so he has been using the platform to post fundraising appeals and photos of missing people. The government, he said, has not been doing enough to help.

“As a Venezuelan citizen, there are a lot of people, like thousands of people, trying to help and get together donations and things we can ship to Venezuela.”

Contreras and the four other Red Sox players from the country — Wilyer Abreu, Andruw Monasterio, Carlos Narváez, and Ranger Suarez — also have been playing with “VZ” stitched into their caps.

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Contreras wants the people back home to know they aren’t forgotten.

“Always. Always, man,” he said.