{"id":3915,"date":"2026-06-30T07:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3915"},"modified":"2026-06-30T07:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:03:57","slug":"its-not-easy-to-hide-willson-contreras-leads-red-sox-with-venezuela-tragedy-weighing-on-his-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3915","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s not easy to hide\u2019: Willson Contreras leads Red Sox with Venezuela tragedy weighing on his heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>The beating heart of these Red Sox has become a broken heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a series of emotional events Monday night, Willson Contreras led the Red Sox to a 6-3 win over the Nationals \u2014 even though he didn\u2019t play past the second inning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3913\">Will Jaylen Brown be staying or leaving? That\u2019s the buzz surrounding the Celtics at the start of free agency<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>He hit a monster three-run home run onto Lansdowne Street in the bottom of the first, sobbed in the dugout before taking the field again, and earned a surprise ejection when an umpire deemed him disrespectful following a close strike-three ruling in the second.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Three hours later, getting booted was secondary for Contreras. His mind long since had gone back to where it always is these days: on his native Venezuela and the destruction wrought by a pair of major earthquakes last week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to hide. It\u2019s not easy just to show up and play with everything that\u2019s going on in my country,\u201d Contreras said after the Sox\u2019 fifth consecutive victory, extending their longest win streak of the year. \u201cI wasn\u2019t feeling good the whole day. I was kind of down, sad. And I hit a homer. Of course, I tried to help [pump up] my dugout. But the first thing that I said was \u2018Venezuela.\u2019 That was the first thing that came out of my mouth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>As the death toll from the twin earthquakes Wednesday has risen past 1,700, Contreras has spent significant time and energy thinking about, and trying to help with, recovery. From afar, his efforts are necessarily limited. He posts on social media dozens of times per day, raising awareness about ways to help and people who are missing. He also has helped with the team\u2019s collecting of monetary donations through the Red Sox Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>In effort to stay with Red Sox, Anthony Seigler switched back to switch-hitting<\/div>\n<p><span>Contreras realizes, he said, \u201cthat I have responsibility here\u201d to play every day, particularly at a time when the Red Sox (37-46) are trying to save their season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s my job to perform,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could be a little bit a case of escape from the situation in Venezuela, for a few hours. But the thoughts are there. The thoughts are not going anywhere, are not going away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And so he stepped to the plate in the first inning against Nationals righthander Miles Mikolas (seven innings, six runs) with two runners on and one out. Already, the Sox were in a 1-0 hole, via James Wood\u2019s 441-foot leadoff homer in the top of the frame.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contreras hammered a middle-middle meatball over everything in left-center field. The emotion came immediately. After flipping his bat, he walked up the first-base line, pounding his chest, then his head, then his chest again before finally breaking into a slow jog around the bases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Upon returning to the dugout, Contreras sat alone and broke down in tears. Wilyer Abreu, his fellow Venezuelan, came over for a hug. So did interim manager Chad Tracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI was there for him because I know the feeling,\u201d said Abreu, who scored a run and drove in a run. \u201cIt\u2019s the same feeling that I have. It\u2019s very tough to play right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contreras\u2019 evening took a weird turn an inning later, when he tried to check his swing but failed, in the view of first-base umpire Nic Lentz. As he walked back to the dugout, Contreras repeatedly tapped his helmet \u2014 mockingly using the \u201cchallenge\u201d signal from the automatic ball-strike challenge system, except in a spot where it didn\u2019t apply and served only to antagonize.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3912\">Trump\u2019s fixation on voting has had mixed results. He still has ways to affect November\u2019s elections.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Lentz ejected Contreras immediately, triggering confusion from the Red Sox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Tracy emerged from the dugout in pursuit of an explanation and \u2014 in contrast with his usual even-keel demeanor \u2014 was outwardly frustrated. Contreras and interim bench coach Jos\u00e9 David Flores joined him. Contreras calmly explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen it happened, I didn\u2019t know what was going on,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cHe felt like he showed him up and threw him out of the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It surprised Contreras, who said he wasn\u2019t making eye contact with Lentz in that moment and was oblivious to the ejection until Marcelo Mayer let him know.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lentz said a player tapping his helmet in such a situation is cause for immediate ejection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cDisrespect \u2026 got him removed from the game,\u201d Lentz told a pool reporter. \u201cYou can have a little bit of discretion. But in a situation like this, where it\u2019s pretty immediate and showing disagreement or trying to gesture in that sort of manner, it would be immediate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contreras said: \u201cI didn\u2019t argue, I didn\u2019t yell, I didn\u2019t do nothing wrong. And he told me, \u2018Yeah, but I have to throw you out.\u2019 I was like, you didn\u2019t have to, but you made that choice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Andruw Monasterio entered to play first base. With Contreras banished to the clubhouse, the Sox eased their way to another win. Ranger Suarez, also Venezuelan, gave up three runs in six innings, extending the club\u2019s streak of quality starts to 12 in a row \u2014 two shy of the franchise record set in 1988.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Tuesday, Contreras will wake up and do it all again \u2014 worry about Venezuela, then try to focus come first pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI feel like I could be there helping people, and I can\u2019t be there,\u201d Contreras said. \u201cThe homer just represents \u2026 the only thing that I can do for Venezuela right now, physically, and that\u2019s when my emotions showed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s for Venezuela. Of course, I\u2019m helping the team to win, and it\u2019s good. But every homer from now on is going to be for the Red Sox and Venezuela.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3910\">Follow live updates on the Trump administration<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Red Sox first baseman hit a monster three-run home run onto Lansdowne Street in the bottom of the first, sobbed in the dugout before taking the field again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018It\u2019s not easy to hide\u2019: Willson Contreras leads Red Sox with Venezuela tragedy weighing on his heart - 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