BOSTON — Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras had a warning for the Milwaukee Brewers after he was hit on the hand by a pitch from right-hander Brandon Woodruff.
“They always say, ‘I’m not trying to hit you,’’’ Contreras said after the Brewers beat the scuffling Red Sox 8-6 at Fenway Park. “That gets old. So, next time they hit me again, I’m going to take one of them out. That’s a message.”
Contreras has been hit by a pitch 131 times in his major league career, including 24 times by the Brewers — which is 10 more than he’s been plunked by any other team. He has a testy history with Woodruff, who has nailed Contreras six times.
After the latest one, Contreras yelled at Woodruff from first base. Then, on a force play, Contreras slid hard into second, banging into shortstop David Hamilton’s left knee with his cleats and tearing his pants.
“I mean, we’ve been through that. It’s been like nine years for me. It seems like every year,” Woodruff said. “He’s trying to play a game and he’s trying to get his side fired up, which is fine. Once I knew what was going on, I wasn’t going to let it affect me.”
Before getting traded to the Red Sox in the offseason, Contreras spent his first 10 big league seasons in the NL Central where he played against Milwaukee a lot, first with the Chicago Cubs and then the St. Louis Cardinals.
Contreras was hit on the left hand with a fastball that grazed his fingers. Brewers manager Pat Murphy challenged the call, which was upheld following a replay review.
“I thought it wasn’t a hit by pitch,” Murphy said. “That’s why we challenged it. Those are really hard to get overturned.”
Contreras’ younger brother, William, was Milwaukee’s catcher.
Did he try to calm his big brother as he walked toward first with him?
“I tried,” he said. “He plays like that.”
Willson Contreras hit a solo homer in the ninth inning and reached base five times. He flung his bat not only after the homer, but his first-inning walk, too.
From behind the plate, his younger brother challenged a 2-0 pitch to Willson Contreras that was called a ball. The call was confirmed by ABS.
“I was going to check it whether it was my bother at the plate or not,” William Contreras said through a translator. “I saw it a little closer than it was.”
The teams have two games left in their three-game series.
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