Cade Cavalli spins gem for the Nats after sparking brawl against the Red Sox
The headlines from this game are definitely going to be about the brawl started by Red Sox catcher Willson Contreras after Cade Cavalli struck him out looking in the fourth inning.
Cavalli yelled out, "Sit down, boy!" as Contreras was walking back to the dugout. So Contreras started walking towards Cavalli to make sure he had heard him correctly.
The melee that ensued featured a helmet used as a projectile and ended with Contreras and Red Sox manager Chad Tracy being ejected, along with Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas.
It was the second night in a row that Contreras was ejected.
Tracy wanted Cavalli to be also ejected, but the umpires weren't having any of it. He was gone, and the crew issued a warning to both teams.
Lost in all the chaos was the fact that Cade Cavalli was absolutely dealing through the first four innings in Boston, and the ruckus he was in the middle of seemingly lit a fire in him that pushed him to the best performance of his career.
Cade Cavalli has career night after Contreras ejection
One of the reasons Willson Contreras may have been so salty is that Cade Cavalli was absolutely dealing Tuesday night.
Cavalli had 16 swing-and-misses through just 4 innings of work. He notched his ninth strikeout and third consecutive one-two-three inning in the 5th.
Speaking of the 5th, Cavalli was immediately met with boos as he made his way back to the mound after the unpleasantness in the fourth.
He then proceeded to absolutely dominate.
Cavalli had a little swagger in his stride after he leaped to snag a grounder that bounced 15 feet in the air to the right side of the pitcher's mound. Cavalli, an excellent fielder at his position, effortlessly planted his feet and, in one motion, sidearmed a laser to the first baseman in plenty of time to beat the runner.
He followed that up with a strikeout of Caleb Durbin after an eight-pitch battle. You could tell he was feeling himself as he took a little stroll around the mound.
In the 6th inning, he tied and then surpassed his career high of 10 strikeouts. He added another two backward Ks at the bottom of the seventh inning.
I've written recently about Cavalli's struggles to go deep into games. Cade Cavalli went 7 innings for just the second time in his career, striking out his 13th hitter of the night, on his 100th pitch of the night. Nine of the 13 struck out swinging.
He ended the start with one hit and one unearned run across seven innings.
What makes Cade Cavalli so good?
Cavalli's pitching arsenal is anchored by his 4-seamer, which sits at about 97 but gets as high as 99.
He utilizes his heater 35% of the time, according to Baseball Savant.
Red Sox shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela seemed to have the most trouble timing the fastball. He kept having to cheat on every pitch, leaving him vulnerable to Cavalli's putout pitches: the knuckle curve and sweeper.
Rafaela struck out twice, once looking at the knuckle curve, once swinging on the sweeper.
Cavalli uses the knuckle curve 29% of the time, so frequently enough that hitters need to take that extra millisecond to decide whether they should swing or not. It's a perfect complement to his fastball. He also loves throwing his sweeper to righties.
His biggest issue so far this year has been wasted pitches.
Often, hitters raise their pitch count by fouling off an inordinate number of pitches.
It's been one of the biggest issues keeping him from going deep into games. But that wasn't an issue for him Tuesday night. The Red Sox literally couldn't touch his stuff.
The Nats go for the series win on Wednesday.
Related: Cade Cavalli Throws Nationals Crucial Lifeline
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This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 11:41 PM.