The Yankee Stadium crowd roared, rising to its feet for a warm-up pitch in the eighth inning of a game the Yankees were six outs away from losing and reaching the brink of elimination in the ALCS.
CC Sabathia was trying to prove he could stay in the game with a trainer and Aaron Boone watching from behind the mound, and what was left of the 49,067 tried to will it from their spots in the stands.
But Sabathia’s body would not cooperate once more. This time, it was his left shoulder again. He threw the pitch and immediately knew, walking off the field with trainer Steve Donohue, perhaps for the final time in his star-studded 19-year MLB career, before the Yankees ultimately fell to the Astros 8-3 Thursday night in Game 4.