Game 88: Nats at Red Sox

On the heels of an emotionally charged game Tuesday night, the Nationals now have a chance to win another road series this afternoon

BOSTON – After an emotionally charged night, the Nationals and Red Sox are right back at it for their series finale on a scorching hot afternoon. Will there be any carryover from Tuesday’s brawl? You wouldn’t think so, but never assume anything in this sport. Also, please scroll down below the lineups for new comments this morning from Paul Toboni and Cade Cavalli about Tuesday night’s events.

In the meantime, the Nats are going for yet another road series victory, and unlike in many previous instances, Blake Butera has his entire bullpen available to him for this game. And with an off-day Thursday before they open a nine-game homestand, he really can use anybody he wants without consideration of impacting their future availability. What that means: Brad Lord is actually going to open today, with Andrew Alvarez and several other relievers likely pitching behind him.

For the third straight day – the sixth time in their last nine games – the Nationals are facing a left-hander. This time it’s Payton Tolle, another impressive young starter who was drafted by Toboni when the current Nats president of baseball operations was a key player in the Red Sox’s scouting department. Tolle, for what it’s worth, actually has better numbers against right-handed hitters (.189 average, .543 OPS) than left-handed hitters (.235 average, .682 OPS).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at BOSTON RED SOX
Where: Fenway Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Partly cloudy, 91 degrees, 9 mph out to center

NATIONALS
LF James Wood
3B Curtis Mead
1B Andrés Chaparro
RF Dylan Crews
DH Daylen Lile
CF Jacob Young
2B Jorbit Vivas
SS Nasim Nuñez
C Drew Millas

RHP Brad Lord

RED SOX
2B Anthony Seigler
CF Ceddane Rafaela
RF Wilyer Abreu
1B Willson Contreras
DH Romy Gonzalez
3B Caleb Durbin
LF Nate Eaton
SS Andruw Monasterio
C Connor Wong

LHP Payton Tolle

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

CAVALLI ON CHARGED PHRASE DIRECTED AT CONTRERAS: “IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN”

Cade Cavalli said the phrase he shouted at Willson Contreras that set off Tuesday night’s brawl had no racial intention behind it. But the right-hander was “torn up” about how it was received by others and vowed never to use it again.

“Obviously, there was no ill intention behind that,” he said. “My teammates know me, my family knows me, this organization knows me. 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.

“It’s really tough. I’ve learned a lot. The intention was perceived different than what my heart is and who I am as a person, my character.”

Cavalli, who shouted “sit down, boy,” to Contreras after striking him out in the fourth inning and prompted the Red Sox first baseman to charge the mound and set off a benches-clearing brawl, said he was unaware how the use of the word “boy” in that context could be construed as offensive. He didn’t realize how it had been received by others until he returned to the team hotel after the game and saw the response.

“I looked at my phone, and I saw what people were saying about me,” he said. “Saw how torn up my wife was. It hurt my heart. 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. It’s been tearing me up.”

President of baseball operations Paul Toboni and manager Blake Butera met with Cavalli this morning after they all arrived at Fenway Park and discussed the incident.

“We within the Nationals organization have a really good understanding of who Cade is as a person. That doesn’t go for everyone else,” Toboni said. “Cade is a guy of great values, great morals, great leader. At the same time, his choice of words was not ideal. Candidly, I think he was unaware that it might have or induce a negative reaction from folks. But we talked a lot about that, and I think now he understands it.

'“I think it’s something that in the past, he’s used in the spirit of competition with his brother, with his dad, if ever it might be. But Cade being the guy that he is, now understands how it might not be received that way from other folks. So moving forward, it’s something that he’s committed to eliminating from his vocabulary, because he understands it now.”

Toboni said the Nationals felt no need to discipline Cavalli because “I think he used a set of words that he did not intend to demean someone in some racial way.”

Cavalli vowed not to use the phrase again in any context.

“It gets perceived in a way that was not my intention, and then you learn from that,” he said. “It’ll never happen again.”