Last Updated: June 17th, 2026 by Matthew Brown
Baseball’s unwritten rules are rarely simple, but when a team gets hit by five pitches in five games, the math becomes pretty clear. Add in that one of those pitches caught Chase Headley in the chin, and another plunked Derek Jeter in his final season – well, something was bound to give.
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Was There Intent? Didn’t Matter to the Yanks
That something erupted in St. Petersburg during a seemingly routine September game. According to USA Today, what made this situation particularly volatile wasn’t just the number of Yankees getting hit – it was the dangerous locations: elbows, chin, head.
The spark came when Steve Geltz, a 26-year-old New York native, hit Jeter with a 0-2 pitch. The count alone suggested no intent – who hits someone intentionally with two strikes? But context matters in baseball, and the Yankees had reached their breaking point.
Joe Girardi erupted from the dugout when umpires issued warnings to both teams. The warning wasn’t just about one hit batter – it was about taking away the Yankees’ ability to police the game themselves, an unwritten rule as old as baseball itself.
“Five times in five games, we’ve been hit,” Girardi fumed. “I’m all for pitching inside, but you gotta know how to pitch inside because it’s extremely dangerous.”
The Final Straw
The tension finally boiled over when David Phelps, clearly sending a message, threw inside to Kevin Kiermaier. He didn’t hit him – didn’t even graze him – but was immediately ejected. The dugouts emptied. Baseball’s ancient code of retaliation clashed with modern game management.
What made this incident particularly fascinating was how both sides understood each other’s position. Rays manager Joe Maddon acknowledged the Yankees’ frustration. Jeter recognized the Rays weren’t trying to hit anyone. Even the umpires seemed to understand the complexity of the situation.
But understanding doesn’t equal acceptance. When Chase Headley speaks about having “blood coming out of his face” from an earlier hit-by-pitch, you grasp why the Yankees felt they had to respond. “You shouldn’t be in the big leagues if you keep doing that consistently,” Headley said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
The final tally spoke volumes: one Yankee hit, three Yankees ejected, zero Rays hit, zero Rays ejected. Sometimes baseball’s unwritten rules collide with its written ones, and somebody has to lose.
Perhaps Phelps, who walked straight toward the Rays’ dugout after his ejection, summed it up best: “None of their guys got hit and I got thrown out.” In baseball’s complex system of justice, sometimes making a statement is more important than making contact.