CC suspended 5 games, elects to appeal

BOSTON -- Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia has received a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing at the Rays' Jesús Sucre in Thursday's 12-1 Yankees win over the Rays at Tropicana Field, Major League Baseball announced on Saturday afternoon.
Rays right-hander Andrew Kittredge also received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for throwing a pitch near Austin Romine's head. Both suspensions, if upheld, will be served at the beginning of the 2019 season.
Sabathia has elected to appeal and would not be kept out of any postseason games for the Yankees, who will host the A's in Wednesday's American League Wild Card Game. The winner of that contest will play the Red Sox in the AL Division Series.
"Hopefully it gets knocked down," Sabathia said. "We'll have the whole winter to try to appeal. We'll see what happens."

Kittredge has not yet appealed, MLB said in a news release.
Sabathia -- who had hit Jake Bauers in the fifth inning -- was ejected immediately after hitting Sucre. Sabathia left little question that it was an act of retaliation, gesturing toward the Rays' bench and shouting, "That's for you," adding an expletive.
The incident was in response to Kittredge throwing near Romine, who exchanged words with Sucre, the Rays' catcher, before resuming the at-bat. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was also ejected after Sabathia hit Sucre.
"Everybody saw what happened," Sabathia said. "Whatever. It is what it is. It's behind us. It's over. We'll just move on."
The 38-year-old Sabathia was six outs shy of achieving a $500,000 incentives bonus by reaching 155 innings. He is earning $10 million this year and is eligible for free agency after the season.
"I don't really make decisions based on money, I guess," Sabathia said at the time. "I just felt like it was the right thing to do."
Asked if he felt that he might need to toss two innings in the Yankees' regular-season finale on Sunday, Sabathia chuckled and shook his head.
"No. The season's over for me," Sabathia said. "I'm ready for the lights to come on."