CC Sabathia earned respect not only within the New York Yankees’ clubhouse for his retaliatory pitch thrown on Thursday, but also from the opposing team.
Sabathia hit Tampa Bay Rays catcher Jesus Sucre with the first pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning and was ejected. The Yankees pitcher decided to hit Sucre as retaliation for the Rays throwing at Austin Romine in the top half of the inning.
Sabathia’s ejection for hitting Sucre prevented him from reaching a $500,000 bonus for pitching 150 innings on the season — a mark he was two innings shy of achieving. The southpaw pitcher said he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do, even if it cost him a bonus.
Sabathia on possibly costing himself the $500,000 bonus: "I don’t really make decisions based on money I guess. Just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) September 27, 2018
Rays outfielder Carlos Gomez says he now has more respect for Sabathia for standing up for his teammates and protecting his players.
Sabathia even got support in the Rays clubhouse. Said Carlos Gomez: "I have a lot of respect for CC & if he feels he should need to hit somebody & he did it, I have more respect because he protects his players. That's how the game is supposed to be played. You protect your guys."
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) September 27, 2018
If the Yankees really want to make a statement, they’ll pay Sabathia his bonus anyway.
