ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- CC Sabathia protected his teammates, not his wallet.
The 38-year-old left-hander got his 246th win and moved the New York Yankees closer to hosting next week's AL wild-card game but may have cost himself a $500,000 bonus.
Sabathia was ejected from Thursday's 12-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the sixth inning for hitting Jesus Sucre on a leg in retaliation for Tampa Bay reliever Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine.
Making his final regular-season start, Sabathia had thrown 55 pitches over five innings to raise his season innings total to 153 -- two shy of a $500,000 performance bonus in his contract.