ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Before CC Sabathia did what any good teammate would have done Thursday, the veteran left-hander had the respect of every Yankee in the clubhouse.
And if there was somebody new who needed an example of how much Sabathia’s teammates mean to him, all that person had to do was watch how the sixth inning of a 12-1 Yankees win over the Rays unfolded in front of 12,349 at Tropicana Field.
Sabathia had hit Jake Bauers with two outs in the fifth inning, and Andrew Kittredge’s first pitch of the sixth inning to Austin Romine was a 93-mph fastball near his head that sent Romine sprawling to the dirt.
Believing Kittredge threw at Romine intentionally, plate umpire Vic Carapazza immediately warned each dugout. To make sure Sabathia understood that he would be ejected if he were to retaliate, Carapazza repeated the warning to Sabathia when the pitcher was on his way to the mound in the bottom of the inning.
Carapazza should have saved his breath because Sabathia’s first pitch clipped Jesus Sucre in the lower left leg, which produced howling from the Rays’ dugout. Carapazza immediately ejected Sabathia.
On his way to the Yankees bench, Sabathia pointed toward the Rays’ dugout and said, “That’s for you, bitch.”
Getting tossed in the sixth with the Yankees leading, 10-0, didn’t cost Sabathia a victory, and he improved to 9-7. However, he was two frames short of reaching 155 innings for the season, which would have landed him $500,000 thanks to an incentive clause.
“I don’t make decisions based on money, I guess,’’ said Sabathia, who told The Post on Wednesday he didn’t know about the incentive clause and didn’t want to be informed what it was. “It was the right thing to do.’’
The Yankees won’t make an exception and give Sabathia the $500,000 anyway, but they could use him for two innings against the Red Sox on Sunday in the final game of the regular season. Aaron Boone said Thursday that Sabathia is a strong candidate to be the fourth starter should the Yankees get past the A’s in the AL wild-card game on Wednesday and face the Red Sox in the ALDS. The Yankees could spin a two-inning stint as getting Sabathia ready.
Should MLB suspend Sabathia, it wouldn’t be served in the postseason.
The Yankees’ third win in four games lowered their magic number to one to clinch home field for the wild-card game over the A’s. A Yankees’ win Friday night in Boston or an A’s loss in Anaheim guarantees the Yankees will play the biggest game of their season in The Bronx.
While Sabathia protected his teammates and allowed one hit in five shutout innings, they supported him.
Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, and Luke Voit (3-for-3) and Miguel Andujar each homered once — Andujar’s a three-run homer coming in the four-run first inning.
Boone, who was ejected with Sabathia because the dugouts had been warned, was livid that Kittredge threw at Romine’s head and said he wasn’t aware that Carapazza issued warnings.
“I was so mad at seeing Ro get dropped like that,’’ Boone said. “My first concern was making sure he was OK.’’
Romine knows intent is hard to prove, but the proof that Kittredge was throwing at him was in plain sight.
“Six shakes and a ball behind your head,’’ Romine said.
As Sabathia was walking off the mound and Boone toward it to call for Luis Cessa from the bullpen, Aaron Judge wandered in front of the Rays’ bullpen, where the relievers were standing up amid the hubbub.
“It was a little conversation we had,’’ said Judge, who drove in two runs with sacrifice flies. “You never know what will happen. Someone could run out. You just have to be prepared to protect your teammates.’’
Sabathia, 38, did that and had no regrets about flushing $500,000 and a pitching gem to do it.
For Brett Gardner, it wasn’t a surprise.
“He is the best. Ask the guys in Cleveland he played with 25 years ago,’’ Gardner said with a smile. “He has a way of making everyone feel at home.’’
David Robertson, Gardner and Romine have seen Sabathia protect players for years. For neophyte pitchers Justus Sheffield, Stephen Tarpley, Chance Adams, Jonathan Loaisiga and Domingo German, it was a lesson that never should be forgotten.
Sabathia is a borderline Hall of Famer for his pitching. He is every bit of that as a teammate for putting them ahead of himself.