July 6: MLB announced that Cavalli’s suspension was reduced to five games (relayed by Danielle Allentuck of The Washington Post). The ban begins with Monday’s series opener against the Astros. Cavalli pitched on Sunday and the Nationals have an off day Thursday, so they’ll probably just flip him with Zack Littell for the final two games of next weekend’s series against the Yankees. It’s essentially a nominal punishment that doesn’t hurt the team, though Cavalli will lose a few games of salary for his actions.

July 2: Major League Baseball has handed down discipline related to the bench-clearing brawl between the Nationals and Red Sox on Tuesday. Washington starter Cade Cavalli has been suspended for seven games for initiating and participating in the incident. Rotation mate Miles Mikolas got a five-game ban for his actions in the scrum. Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras got seven games for his actions during and after the incident, while backup infielder Nate Eaton received a three-game ban for his role in the brawl.

All four players were fined an undisclosed amount. All four players will appeal, reports Evan Drellich of The Athletic. The suspensions would otherwise begin tomorrow because both teams are off tonight.

Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that Contreras’ suspension was elevated because the three-time All-Star violated a league rule on using social media during a game. Contreras was ejected but went on Instagram to reply “come meet me at Fenway” to a fan who insulted him while the game was still in progress.

The fracas came about after Cavalli struck Contreras out looking in the fourth inning on Tuesday. Cavalli yelled “sit down, boy” as Contreras was walking towards the dugout. That led Contreras to approach the mound and benches to clear. Contreras threw his helmet during the scrum. The tension had seemingly gone back to the first inning, as Cavalli took exception to Contreras brushing past him as they went to their respective dugouts at the end of the frame. Eaton and Mikolas were not involved in the game but both got tossed for fighting when benches cleared.

Cavalli was not ejected. He stayed in to toss seven scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts in the best game of his career. Red Sox interim skipper Chad Tracy criticized the umpires’ decision not to eject Cavalli. Based on the suspension, the league office evidently agreed discipline was warranted.

Contreras, who is Venezuelan, and Tracy each declined to answer whether they believed that Cavalli’s use of the term “boy” had a racial connotation (link via ESPN). The pitcher released a statement yesterday saying that wasn’t his intention but expressing regret for his word choice.

“I’m extremely torn up about the way that things were perceived,” Cavalli said. “Obviously, there was no ill intention behind that. 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.”