Every time Willson Contreras faces the Milwaukee Brewers, the storyline used to be facing his brother William. This time should have been different, as they both won together the last World Baseball Classic just less than a month ago.
But there was a hidden story between the Brewers and Contreras. He has already faced them 120 times, and he has been hit by a pitch 23 times, five of them by Monday’s pitcher, Brandon Woodruff. It all happened all over again to start the week, and the infielder had enough.
“It’s not just the hit by pitch,” said Contreras after the 8-6 loss. “It is that this is the 24th time that they hit me in my career. And they always say that they are not trying to hit me. That gets old. Next time they hit me again, I am gonna take one of them out. That’s the message.”
Willson Contreras was very upset.
The Brewers requested a challenge to check if he was actually hit by a pitch. After the replay confirmed the call on the field, he still said a few things to Woodruff.
Manager Alex Cora went out to try to calm him down.
“I don’t know the history there,” Cora added. “I talked to Willson: ‘whatever is going on, I need you in the game’.”
The whole situation seemed to fire Contreras up. He got on base five times for the third time in his career and the first time since 2023.
He was a homer shy of the cycle.
And after he got hit by the pitch, he slid aggressively into second base after Wilyer Abreu hit a ground ball.
“I wouldn’t say purposely, because he stayed in the back,” Contreras added. “That was a perfectly legal slide.”
And the umpires proved him right, but the Red Sox lost for the eighth time in the past 10 games.
READ MORE:«We need to switch the chip»: Frustration grows as Red Sox struggles continues
«Necesitamos encontrar la chispa para darle la vuelta a las cosas», le dijo Willson Contreras a los reporteros al caer por octava vez en los 10 primeros juegos del año. «Queremos ganar. Las cosas van a cambiar».
Photo: MLB screenshot
