Connelly Early injured, Willson Contreras ejected as Red Sox fall to the Nationals and end win streak

An 8-1 loss against the Nationals was the least of the concerns for the Red Sox on Tuesday night.

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Prized rookie lefthander Connelly Early left the game after four innings after feeling discomfort in his elbow while releasing his last pitch.

He will get imaging done on Wednesday to determine the extent of his injury. At the very least, he is expected to be placed on the injured list.

First baseman Willson Contreras was ejected for the second consecutive game and could face suspension from Major League Baseball after being one of the instigators of a bench-clearing brawl in the fourth inning.

Both Contreras and interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said Nationals starter Cade Cavalli shouted, “Sit down, boy!” after striking Contreras out.

“I heard it from where I was sitting,” Tracy said. “Interesting choice of words.”

The benches cleared as Contreras approached Cavalli. The incident quickly turned physical as players from both teams started pushing and shoving, and some punches were thrown.

While being restrained by teammates, Contreras at one point jumped up and threw his batting helmet at Cavalli, but didn’t hit him.

Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu also had to be held back as he came to the defense of Contreras.

The umpires ejected Contreras and Sox outfielder Nate Eaton, who joined the fray off the bench. Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas also was ejected.

Tracy was then ejected for the first time this season after arguing with umpires Vic Carapazza and Hunter Wendelstedt. He was angry that Cavalli was not ejected.

“That was my biggest complaint,” Tracy said. “Why is he still in the game?”

Contreras was asked if he construed Cavalli’s comment as being racial in nature.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m Venezuelan; I don’t know if it’s racist or not. I’ll let MLB handle that.”

Tracy didn’t offer an opinion on the nature of the comment.

“I don’t know Cade Cavalli or anything like that, so it’s hard for me to say,” he said. “Just felt like when he said it, it was like, ‘Whoa.’”

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Cavalli said what he shouted was a reaction to Contreras cutting across the field at the end of the first inning and making contact with him.

“I’m walking off the field, I stop, and he obviously sees me and gets as close as he can, brushes me with his arm,” Cavalli said.

“It’s just a weird thing. I was just caught off guard by it. I think we all know Willson is an extremely competitive guy. He’ll do stuff to try and get under your skin … I’m competitive as well. I let him know.”

Contreras claimed that his making contact with Cavalli was accidental.

“I apologized. I felt something, and I turned around and was like, ‘My bad, my fault.’ It was like nothing,” he said.

Contreras was ejected on Monday night after striking out on a check swing and gesturing to first base umpire Nic Lentz that his call should be challenged.

“I feel like everything is against me right now,” Contreras said.

Cavalli (5-4) threw seven shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out a career-best 13. He retired the final 19 batters he faced.

Lefthander Danny Coulombe inherited a 1-0 lead from Early in the fifth inning. Daylen Lile singled, and Keibert Ruiz drew a one-out walk. James Wood followed with an RBI single to right field.

The Nationals took a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning. Pinch hitter José Tena singled off Greg Weissert (0-2) before Nasim Nuñez drew a walk.

Justin Slaten replaced Weissert, and his first pitch to Ruiz was grounded down the first base line.

The ball took a bad hop and got by Andruw Monasterio, who had replaced Contreras at first base. Garcia followed with a two-run double off the scoreboard in left field.

Tommy Kahnle allowed four runs on four hits in the eighth inning and was designated for assignment after the game, according to MassLive.com. The team is expected to call up lefthander Alec Gamboa.

Ruiz was 2 for 3 and drove in three runs for the Nationals, who snapped a six-game losing streak against the Sox that dated back to 2024.

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