C.C. Sabathia protected his teammates, not his wallet.
The 38-year-old left-hander got his 246th win and moved the New York Yankees closer to hosting next week’s American League (AL) wild-card game, but might have cost himself a US$500,000 bonus.
Sabathia was ejected from Thursday’s 12-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the sixth inning for hitting Jesus Sucre on the leg in retaliation for Tampa Bay reliever Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine.
Photo: AP
Making his final regular-season start, Sabathia had thrown 55 pitches over five innings to raise his season innings total to 153 — two shy of a US$500,000 performance bonus in his contract.
“I don’t really make decisions based on money, I guess,” Sabathia said. “I just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not rule out Sabathia getting into a game this weekend in Boston.
“That’s definitely above my pay grade,” Boone said when asked whether New York should still pay the bonus.
New York (98-61) ensured their winningest season since going 103-59 en route to the 2009 World Series title and moved two games ahead of Oakland (96-63) for hosting the wild-card game on Wednesday next week.
The Yankees hold the tiebreaker, which means one more Yankees win or Athletics loss ensures the winner-take-all game would be in the Bronx.
The wild-card winners advance to a Division Series against AL East champions Boston.
New York’s 260 homers tied the 2005 Texas Rangers for the second-most in major league history, four behind the 1997 Seattle Mariners.
With New York ahead 7-0, Sabathia hit Jake Bauers on the knuckles of his right hand with an 142kph two-seam fastball with two outs in the fifth.
Kittredge threw a 150kph fastball behind Romine’s neck with his initial pitch in the sixth, and plate umpire Vic Carapazza issued a warning to both benches.
Sabathia started out of the Yankees dugout and had to be intercepted by Boone.
“You can’t throw balls at people’s head, plain and simple,” Romine said.
After New York opened an 11-0 lead, Sabathia hit Sucre in the lower left leg on his first pitch in the bottom half, causing Carapazza to eject the pitcher and Boone.
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