Washington Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli dropped his appeal and accepted a five-game suspension for his actions that caused last week's benches-clearing brawl, Major League Baseball announced Monday, according to Andrew Golden of The Baltimore Banner.
Cavalli was originally handed a seven-game suspension following the fracas. He'll begin serving the reduced ban Monday and will be eligible to make his next scheduled start Sunday against the New York Yankees.
Cavalli yelled "Sit down, boy" at Willson Contreras after striking out the Red Sox slugger in the fourth inning of Washington's game in Boston on June 30. Contreras took exception and tried to throw his helmet at Cavalli as both benches and bullpens cleared. Contreras, Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas, and Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton were all ejected, but Cavalli was allowed to continue pitching.
Cavalli was upset that Contreras had brushed past him while jogging off the field earlier in the game. The next day, Cavalli apologized for using the term "boy" in that manner, which has racial connotations in the United States.
"There's a history behind that word, and that's just something that as a competitor, like in football or basketball, playing whiffle ball with my brother, you don't understand it," Cavalli said. "And then it gets perceived in a way that was not my intention, and then you learn from that. It'll never happen again."
Cavalli, who's in his third big-league season, owns a 3.88 ERA, 3.36 FIP, and 1.38 WHIP along with 105 strikeouts and 31 walks across 19 starts this year.
The 27-year-old started for Washington on Sunday while appealing his original suspension.
MLB also suspended Contreras for seven games, Mikolas for five, and Eaton for three following the melee. Each of those players are still appealing their punishments. Mikolas started Monday against Houston.
