As soon as Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu smashed back-to-back homers in the fourth inning Tuesday night, Trevor Story had to know what was coming when he walked to the plate.

It was bad enough that Framber Valdez, a solid starter for the Detroit Tigers, saw two baseballs shot out of Comerica Park like artillery fire. Worse was Contreras’ elaborate bat-toss. Like it’s often been said in football, when you hit one out, act as if you’ve done it before.

To Story’s credit, he didn’t give an inch. He stood up to bat in his usual stance and position in the batter’s box. Valdez, who had been throwing meatballs for two innings, suddenly uncorked a 94-MPH fastball aimed squarely between Story’s shoulders.

Again, to Story’s credit, he didn’t charge the mound, speaking only to Detroit catcher Dillon Dingler. Then again, he didn’t have to charge the mound. His teammates streamed out of the dugout, which forced the Tigers out of theirs, and so forth. And so on.

The incident was more funny than dangerous, especially when broadcaster Will Middlebrooks pointed out that “the guy who started it all is hiding in the back.” That, of course, would be Valdez, and the pack was the clump of players milling around and catching up with one another.

We’ve gone past the point in our civilization where fighting should be considered acceptable during sporting events. If you can’t do it on the street without paying a legal price, you shouldn’t be able to do it in the rink or on the field.

All we ever do is decry violence on the street. President Trump sent federal troops to cities last year in efforts to stop it. Yet, if you pummel a defenseman in a hockey game, it’s OK.

At the end of last Friday’s game against the Sabres, Boston’s Charlie McAvoy looked as if he was about to land a two-hander on the helmet of a Buffalo player before he skated away. If he did that on Causeway Street, he’d be arrested and hauled off to court. Inside the TD Garden, McAvoy got to spend the last minute of the game in the locker room.

I’m not naive. I understand the urge to fight back. Maybe McAvoy was legitimately provoked. Story surely was. But just as we ask ordinary citizens to obey the law and practice restraint, athletes should be held to the same standards. If you take an obvious run at someone during a hockey game, you should get a game misconduct, and the victimized team a penalty shot. If you do something even more aggressive than that, the penalty should be harsher. And if it’s a crime on the street, then it’s a crime in the rink.

I’m old enough to remember Wayne Maki nearly taking Boston Bruin Teddy Green’s head off with a two-hander in 1969. Green nearly died, and ended up with a broken skull. He was lucky to survive. Maki was acquitted of assault charges and suspended for 30 games.

Maki died in 1974 at the age of 29 from brain cancer.

As for Tuesday night in Detroit, Valdez deserves a suspension severe enough that he loses a couple of starts. That wasn’t pitching. It was a temper tantrum on the mound. The Tigers should discipline him, too.

What do you suppose would happen if batters could take revenge on pitchers who strike them out? Say Garrett Crochet strikes out Mike Trout and prances around the mound in celebration. Does Trout get to run out to the mound and deck him?

Forget about showing up the batter or the pitcher. Get rid of all these ridiculous antics after hits and home runs.

How about just playing the game, and disciplining anyone who can’t seem to do that?