The Yankees blew out the Rays, 12-1, on Thursday afternoon, but the story of the game was CC Sabathia's retaliation after the Rays threw behind one of his teammates. >> Box score

1) After Andrew Kittredge threw high and behind Austin Romine in the top of the sixth inning, Romine exchanged words with Rays catcher Jesus Sucre. In the bottom of the inning, Sabathia's first pitch to Sucre drilled him in the leg, leading to an immediate ejection. It also cost Sabathia $500,000, since he was two innings away from hitting his innings incentive. Sabathia looked at the Rays dugout on his way off the field, and said "that's for you, b*tch."

2) Miguel Andujar, Giancarlo Stanton (2), and Luke Voit all homered for the Yankees.

3) Before his ejection, Sabathia tossed five innings of one-hit ball, walking none and striking out five.

Highlights from Thursday's game

Miggy goes deep for the 27th time this season. pic.twitter.com/S82XAHxIZp
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 27, 2018

Back-to-Back. pic.twitter.com/P08DNJH0du
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 27, 2018

Chris Carelli, SNY.TV Facebook | Twitter | About Me | Archives

All sorts of statements made in this game (and series).

The Yankees came out swinging after coming up short in a comeback bid Wednesday night, scoring seven runs Thursday in the first four innings. By taking three of four in the series, the Yankees whittled their magic number for home field advantage in the Wild Card Game down to one game with the Athletics giving chase.

The Yankees saw one of their teammates get brushed back by a ball behind the head of Austin Romine, and retaliated with four runs, including two home runs, off Andrew Kittredge, the Rays' hurler. That wasn't enough for Sabathia, who was cruising in this one, as he plunked the Rays' catcher Jesus Sucre. Sabathia was tossed and in the process cost himself a potential $500K bonus for an innings incentive. There is nothing that says the Yanks won't make good on that bonus, and maybe they will as Sabathia demonstrates once again why teammates love him.

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