The Boston Red Sox appeared to dodge a bullet on Thursday night after X-rays of the right hand of All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras, who exited in the eighth inning after being hit in the hand by a pitch, were negative.

Thursday’s hit-by-pitch represented the 24th time the 34-year-old has been hit in 2026, tying a career high for his now 11-year big league career. Clearly, the high volume of HBPs has struck a nerve with Contreras, as he made comments that appeared to call out the Boston pitching staff in a fiery postgame media availability.  

“I want to say something I can’t say. Let’s leave it at that,” Contreras told reporters, including Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. “If nobody does anything about it, I’m going to keep getting hit. That’s the way I see it. That’s it,” he said in an apparent challenge to the Boston staff, who have hit just 61 batters all season, to retaliate. 

Contreras also defended himself from a popular counter to his high volume of hit-by-pitches, saying, “A lot of people might say that I hit on top of the plate, but I’m seeing a lot of players hit on top of the plate. They don’t get hit like me.” 

Contreras has spent his entire career in three incredibly passionate baseball markets in Chicago, St. Louis and now Boston, so he undoubtedly knows to choose his words carefully in the media, especially in a market like Boston with a rabid sports talk radio listener base. As a result, he left just enough vagueness in his comments to avoid causing a media firestorm and potentially disrupt the clubhouse chemistry.

However, in saying “if nobody does something, I’m going to continue to get hit,” it seems clear that the only people who can ‘do something’ are either the league, which could issue discipline to pitchers for intentionally hitting Contreras - which was clearly not the case on Thursday - or the Boston pitching staff, who can retaliate by hitting opposing batters. Contreras certainly seemed to be advocating the latter. 

Yes and no. Baseball has always been a game that’s, for the most part, policed itself. You throw at our best player; we’ll throw at yours. However, that notion has faded in recent years, thanks in part to the higher risk of injury as pitch velocity has increased. Still, it applies in some cases; look no further than Contreras’ on-field scuffle with Washington Nationals starter Cade Cavalli in late June. 

The Red Sox chose not to retaliate against alleged remarks from Cavalli towards Contreras that could be interpreted as racist. However, if they had, few would have batted an eye. That’s not to say Boston pitching should have gone head-hunting or tried to injure an opposing player, but I see no problem with hitting a guy in the back or backside in a low-leverage situation as a clear message to the opposition that you aren’t happy with the situation. 

Unfortunately for Contreras, Thursday night was not one of those situations. After Wilyer Abreu worked a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, Contreras represented the tying run in what was as close to a must-win as you can get for Texas, who sat just 1.5 games back of the final wild card spot. Reliever Jakob Junis, who Contreras said apologized for the errant pitch, was in no way trying to hit him and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. 

Even so, once Boston took the lead thanks to a three-run home run off the bat of Trevor Story, the game became an important one for the Red Sox to win and avoid the sweep. It would have been incredibly ill-advised for either Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds, or Garrett Whitlock to put the tying run on base and bring the go-ahead and potentially winning run on base for the sake of sending a message to a team that, in all likelihood, you won’t see again until 2027. 

Regardless of what Contreras meant by his seemingly pointed comments, one thing is clear: the frustration of possibly missing more time just days after being activated from the injured list got the best of him. 

As expected, Contreras will be out of the lineup on Friday night as the Red Sox open up the final road series of the regular season at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. Ranger Suarez (7-4, 3.33 ERA) gets the start for Boston opposite Ian Seymour (9-6, 4.27 ERA) for Tampa Bay. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.