ST. PETERSBURG -- One day after Yankees manager Joe Girardi insisted his club would not retaliate for a violent home-plate collision in Saturday's game against the Rays, both clubs spilled onto the field at Progress Energy Park in a bench-clearing incident Wednesday.
After Yankees starter Heath Phillips was ejected in the first inning for grazing Rays third baseman Evan Longoria with an up-and-in fastball, the Yankees' Shelley Duncan cleared the benches by sliding hard into Rays second baseman Aki Iwamura in the bottom of the second.
Play halted for several minutes as the two clubs engaged in shoving, and at least one punch appeared to be thrown. Duncan, who was running out a ball hit down the left-field line that tipped Longoria's glove, was out at second base by least 30 feet and raised his spikes on the slide, hoping to knock the ball loose.
"In my mind, there's only two things you can do -- a weird slide or slide hard into his glove," Duncan said. "I made a hard slide into his glove."
With a small gash opened over Iwamura's right knee and last week's events still present in many minds, the Rays saw it differently, especially right fielder Jonny Gomes, who charged in from right field and hit Duncan from behind.
"I just think [Duncan] tried to inflict some pain on Aki," Gomes said. "[The reaction] just comes second nature. I was taught all the way from T-ball to have a teammate's back.
"It's a baseball field. There's fans and kids watching. I had to let [Duncan] know that's not going to fly."
Gomes, Duncan, Yankees third-base coach Bobby Meacham and Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long were ejected following the incident.