The Boston Red Sox will be without their best hitter for the next five games.After appealing his seven-game suspension levied last week following a benches-clearing brawl with the Washington Nationals on June 30, MLB reduced Willson Contreras’ sentence to five games Thursday. Contreras will miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, plus the three-game weekend series against the New York Mets and the first game back after the All-Star break on July 17 against the Tampa Bay Rays, which is a doubleheader. He’ll be eligible to return in the second game that day.Utilityman Nate Eaton, who’d been suspended five games, had his sentence reduced to two games, which he served this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.Nationals starter Cade Cavalli, who incited the brawl by yelling, “Sit down, boy!” at Contreras, had his seven-game sentence reduced to five games and began his suspension Monday, but will not have to miss his next scheduled start Sunday.The latest MLB draft intelKeith LawNationals starter Miles Mikolas has yet to hear about the appeal for his five-game suspension.As the Red Sox struggled for consistency amid a tumultuous season in which they fired Alex Cora and six coaches in April, Contreras has been the heart of the lineup and the clubhouse.He hit 20 homers in 135 games last season and seems likely to surpass the career-high 24 homers he hit in 2019 this season.Contreras had appeared in all but two games for the Red Sox this season while starting 86 games at first base. The 34-year-old is having one of the best seasons of his career, hitting .285 with a .921 OPS, 16 doubles and a team-leading 20 homers.Contreras was named to the American League All-Star team earlier this week as a replacement for Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He will also participate in the Home Run Derby.The Red Sox, meanwhile, have hit their best stretch of the season with 10 wins in their last 12 games, including sweeps of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels. They’ve won their first two games against the upstart Chicago White Sox with the chance for a sweep Thursday before closing the first half with three games at the Mets. They will be doing so without Contreras.In his place at first base, the Red Sox figure to use infielders Romy Gonzalez and Andruw Monasterio. As part of Contreras’ suspension, the Red Sox cannot call up another player and thus must play short-handed.