Willson Contreras breaks down in tears after home run, gets ejected the next inning

Willson Contreras breaks down in tears after home run, gets ejected the next inning

Economy World


BOSTON — In the span of two innings, Willson Contreras hit a monstrous three-run homer for the Boston Red Sox, broke down in tears in the dugout with his native Venezuela on his mind, and then was ejected the following inning after striking out for tapping his helmet.

Throughout his career, Contreras has played with emotion. But this past week has been particularly tough for Contreras, who’s been raising money for Venezuelan earthquake victims and speaking passionately about his home country. Contreras has the letters “VZ” on his hat, as do fellow Venezuelan teammates Wilyer Abreu, Carlos Narváez and Ranger Suarez, who started Monday’s game. The Red Sox have five Venezuelans on their roster, including utility man Andruw Monasterio.

Venezuela was hit by 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes on Wednesday. The death toll released by the Venezuelan government is over 1,700 and is expected to rise.

With the Red Sox trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Contreras crushed a 421-foot homer over the wall in left field at Fenway Park to take the lead. He threw his bat with force and screamed “Venezuela” as he ran to first base.

Back in the dugout, Contreras sat on the bench and broke down, his hands in his head. Abreu and Narváez came over to hug him, as did interim manager Chad Tracy.

In the bottom of the second, Contreras came to the plate again, this time striking out on a check swing. Frustrated by the call, he tapped the top of his helmet as if to challenge it as he walked back to the dugout.

First base umpire Nic Lentz seemed to take exception and ejected Contreras. Tracy ran out for an explanation before Contreras joined him, but Lentz didn’t relent.

 

Monasterio replaced Contreras at first base.

On Saturday night after another big home run, Contreras spoke at length about the tragedies in Venezuela.

“It’s tough, it’s tough, it’s really tough to see what’s going on in Venezuela,” he said. “On January 3, we had some good news with the USA getting to Venezuela and taking some people out. That was kind of a little bit of happiness for the Venezuelan people, and then we won the WBC, which was the biggest happiness for Venezuela. And now we got hit with two earthquakes — with two earthquakes and more than 1,000 deaths. Probably more than that. I don’t know. It’s really sad to live through this.

“It’s really hard to separate or fake that we are (feeling) good just because we have to work,” he added. “I mean, we’re professional. We have to show up and work. But it’s really tough when you know what’s going on in Venezuela, you’re here playing for your team, trying to win the game, trying to perform, and at the same time trying to seek ways to help. I wish I could be there, to be honest, to find people. That’s where my heart was.”

Contreras has been using his Instagram account to do what he can from afar.

“We are getting together donations and things that we can ship to Venezuela, and we have some types of groups helping in Venezuela, and now (the country is) denying the access to those people that want to help because they’re not part of the government,” he said. “So that’s how tough the Venezuelan situation is.”

Over the weekend, Hall of Famer David Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic, joined Contreras, Narvaez and Abreu on Jersey Street to collect donations for Venezuela earthquake victims through the Red Sox Foundation’s Venezuelan Earthquake Disaster Relief Efforts fund.

This story will be updated.



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