Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras offered an emotional apology for his involvement in a pair of bench-clearing incidents against the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals this past week.

Incidents and Apology

Contreras, who is appealing the seven-game suspension he received from Major League Baseball for his part in a heated dispute with Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli, had just finished addressing reporters about his All-Star snub when he continued to speak through his interpreter in Spanish.

“One thing I want to add, on the record,” Contreras said before Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels, “is an apology for all of the events from last week, all of the things that occurred when the Nationals and Yankees (were at Fenway Park) are very hard. It was a very emotional time for me.

“(People) won’t understand why I’m apologizing now, but I think it’s something that’s important for me to do, to apologize because I feel that it was an emotional time, and those situations could have been avoided and controlled and handled better.”

Reflection and Moving Forward

Contreras, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning Saturday night–his 19th of the season–fought back tears as he processed the fallout from his on-field turmoil and the struggles of his native Venezuela, which was hit by two powerful earthquakes this past week.

“It’s been a really tough week, an emotional week for me,” Contreras said. “I hope that (people) understand how emotional it’s been. I’ll prove myself with my actions on the field moving forward and show them the kind of person that I truly am.”

Original reporting: NBC10 Boston — read the source article.