Yankees' CC Sabathia risks $500K to retaliate | The setup, blow-by-blow, reaction

Posted September 28, 2018 at 06:05 AM | Updated September 28, 2018 at 06:07 AM

Chris O'Meara | AP

Randy Miller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees were having a ball Thursday afternoon blowing out the Tampa Bay Rays on a getaway-day matinee at Tropicana Field when a middle-innings message pitch turned everyone’s mood.

Everyone in the Yankees’ dugout and bullpen instantly became furious seeing catcher Austin Romine being knocked down with a fastball from reliever Andrew Kittredge that just missed his head in the sixth inning of their 12-1 rout.

In the midst of his best start of the season, left-hander CC Sabathia looked more angry than anyone stepping out of the dugout to scream at the Rays, who retaliated the wrong way for having two of their players hit in their last two games.

“Anytime your player’s safety is in jeopardy, I think all guys take exception to that,” Sabathia said. “We all did.”

Sabathia was still fuming when he took the mound for the sixth working on a one-hitter and leading 11-0.

He knew what had to be done even though plate umpire Vic Carapazza had warned both clubs following the Romine buzzing.

He knew what had to be done even though he was two innings away from earning a $500,000 performance bonus.

When Rays catcher Jesus Sucre led off the home sixth, it was eye-for-an-eye time and he was drilled.

Just like that, Sabathia’s great outing was over due to an automatic ejection and his $500K probably was flushed away in the process because this was game 159 of the season for the Yanks.

This may have been one of the finest moment’s of Sabathia’s great career. On a day in which he earned career victory No. 246, his reputation as an ultimate teammate somehow got even better.

“CC has the respect of everybody in this room and the guys respect him even more after that,” Yankees reliever Dellin Betances said. “Hopefully management looks at this and rewards him that money. He deserves it.”

Here’s a more detailed look at what happened with lots of reaction:

New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays

Mike Carlson | Getty Images

The Setup, Part 1

Five players were hit by pitches in the first three games of this four-game set, most notably Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier in the first inning of Wednesday night’s game when the left-handed hitter was hit in the foot on a low-and-inside slider from Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka.

This definitely wasn’t intentional by Tanaka, who was in the midst of a bad inning in which the Rays scored three runs to erase an early 3-0 Yankees lead.

Kiermaier looked to be in pain initially, but he stayed in the game through the third inning before leaving to get his foot checked it.

X-rays revealed a hairline fracture, which ended the slick fielder’s season two days after the Rays were eliminated from postseason contention and four days before their season finale.

Yankees Rays Baseball

Mike Carlson | AP

The Setup, Part 2

The Rays never retaliated for Kiermaier’s injury on Wednesday, but they decided something had to be done midway through Thursday’s game when Sabathia hit rookie first baseman Jake Bauers in the hand with two outs and nobody on in the fifth inning with the Yankees leading 7-0.

Sabathia’s pitch was inside, but not far off the plate and Bauers only seemed to be hit because he was late reacting.

“CC has no intent right there,” Yankees reliever Dellin Betances said. “He’s throwing a jam pitch and a sinker got away and (Bauers) barely moved.”

Bauers was initially felt some pain, but he shook it off and played the entire game.

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