ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After Joba Chamberlain sailed a pitch over Evan Longoria’s head in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 6-2 victory last night at Tropicana Field, Rays starter Matt Garza countered by hitting Mark Teixeira in the fifth.

“I just kind of got tired of people brushing [Longoria] back,” Garza said. “It’s about time someone made a statement.

“They did it on Monday night and we didn’t do anything. They didn’t do it too much [Tuesday] and [Chamberlain] did it again tonight,” Garza said. “I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say, ‘You know, we’re tired of it.’ You can go after our best guy, well, we’ll make some noise, too, and that’s what happened.”