What concerned Boone, however, was the possibility of escalation. 
 
 “Absolutely — especially this time of year,” Boone said. “That’s the thing you worry about, and obviously right now we have a lot at stake, and the last thing we want to do is get in trouble, or, more importantly, get guys hurt.” 
 
 Two years ago, during the last week of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Yankees continued to hit each other until the benches emptied. In the ensuing fracas, Joaquin Benoit — one of the Blue Jays’ best relievers — injured his calf, which caused him to miss the playoffs. 
 
 “That was really unfortunate, of course, and there’s always that potential,” said Yankees pitcher J. A. Happ, who started the tit-for-tat that day while pitching for Toronto by hitting Chase Headley after several Blue Jays had been hit earlier in the series. “Nobody’s looking for that stuff to happen, but you’re reacting and supporting your team.” 
 
 When Sabathia had his words for the Rays on his way off the field, about a dozen Rays in the bullpen down the right-field line moved en masse toward the field, where they were met by Judge. Elsewhere around the field, players watched and waited to see if the situation would escalate. 
 
 Tensions eventually eased and there were no other incidents — though, perhaps as a precaution, Judge, who missed nearly two months with a fractured wrist after being hit by a pitch in July, was removed from the game before he went to bat again. 
 
 Sabathia’s early ejection overshadowed big days from Luke Voit, who homered, doubled and singled, and Stanton, who hit two home runs. It also undercut Sabathia’s best performance since he returned from a stint on the disabled list in late August. Twice this month, he failed to get more than 10 outs. 
 
 But on Thursday, the big left-hander was nearly perfect. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before Joey Wendle lined a clean single through the vacated left side of the infield. The only other batters who reached were Bauers, who was hit with two out in the third, and Sucre. Sabathia did not walk a batter and struck out five in five innings. 

 Aaron Boone and CC Sabathia vent their frustration and tell the Rays to 'kick rocks' after a ball was thrown over Austin Romine's head. (0:39) 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- New York Yankees starter CC Sabathia, in the middle of a one-hitter and two innings shy of earning a $500,000 incentive-based bonus, was ejected from Thursday afternoon's game at Tropicana Field. 
 
 Sabathia entered Thursday's game having pitched 148 innings this season. In what will be his final start of the year, he needed to last through the seventh in order to make it to 155 innings and receive the bonus. 
 
 But he was tossed by home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza in the bottom of the sixth inning after throwing a 92.5 mph cutter into Tampa Bay Rays catcher Jesus Sucre's left leg. 
 
 "I don't really make decisions based on money, I guess," Sabathia said after the Yankees' 12-1 win over the Rays. "Just felt like it was the right thing to do." 
 
 Carapazza had issued warnings minutes prior, following a pitch in the top of the inning from Rays reliever Andrew Kittredge that sailed behind Yankees catcher Austin Romine's head. After the warnings, the next batter to be thrown at or hit would lead to ejections. 
 
 "Any time you feel like your player's safety is in jeopardy, all guys take exception to that," Sabathia said. 
 
 Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who said he didn't see the original warning issued from Carapazza, understood why his pitcher felt he needed to retaliate for Kittredge's errant pitch. 
 
 "There's no question there was intent. You've had some guys hit this series, and then you throw one over the head? Just kick rocks. I hated it," said Boone, who once played with Sabathia while with the Cleveland Indians. "If you're going to play that game and you start messing around with people's heads, we're going to take exception to that." 
 
 Earlier in the game, Rays first baseman Jake Bauers was hit by a pitch. The day before, Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier suffered a hairline fracture when a slider from Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka hit his right foot. 
 
 It was just after Kittredge's ball went whizzing past Romine when Sabathia emerged from the Yankees' dugout and yelled in the direction of his opposing pitcher. As Sabathia jawed at the pitcher, Romine, who hit the dirt because of the pitch, dusted himself off and had what he called a "conversation between catchers" with Sucre. 
 
 Once that half-inning ended with the Yankees scoring four runs to extend their lead to 11-0, Sabathia's yelling resumed in the bottom of the sixth, and he was ejected after his very first pitch of the inning plunked Sucre. 
 
 This was Sabathia's fifth ejection of his career, and his second this season. He also was ejected from the dugout at Toronto on July 7. 
 
 As he was walking off the mound following the ejection, Sabathia turned toward the Rays dugout, pointed and shouted: "That was for you, b----." It was unclear toward whom specifically he was directing his anger. Then, feet from the Yankees' dugout, Sabathia made a motion toward his crotch as he glanced back at the Rays dugout. 
 
 "I don't even remember what I said," Sabathia later said. "I was just yelling."
– So agonizingly close. Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia got ejected Thursday in his last start of the season for hitting a batter, and the timing was especially costly. Sabathia got tossed in the sixth inning—leaving him two innings shy of the 150 he needed for the year to earn a $500,000 bonus, reports ESPN. As the New York Times frames it, the veteran pitcher chose team loyalty over his wallet. In the top of the sixth, Tampa pitcher Andrew Kittredge threw near the head of the Yankees' Austin Romine. It was so close that Sabathia emerged from his dugout to yell at Kittredge, and the ump warned both teams that the next hit batter, or near hit, would result in ejection. When Sabathia took the mound in the bottom of the inning, he promptly hit Tampa's Jesus Sucre in the leg with a fastball. Upon being ejected, he pointed toward the Tampa dugout—presumably at Kittredge—and shouted, "That's for you." Afterward, he didn't seem much fazed by the bonus. "I don't really make decisions based on money, I guess," he said. "Just felt like it was the right thing to do." Teammates defended Sabathia for the retaliation, saying that while throwing at a batter is part of the game, throwing at a batter's head is not. "That gets people fired up," says the Yankees' Aaron Judge. The Yankees won the game 12-1.