New York Yankees' Shelley Duncan slides with his spikes high into Tampa Bay second baseman Akinori Iwamura during spring training action Wednesday. The play caused both team benches to clear.

Shelley Duncan, his spikes up, slid hard and late into Tampa Bay second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Jonny Gomes, at 225 pounds, came rushing in from right field and barreled into Duncan.

Don't tell the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays these games don't count. They had a score to settle, spring training or not.

Meeting only days after New York manager Joe Girardi complained about Tampa Bay's aggressive play in an exhibition game after one of his players was injured in a home-plate collision, the Yankees brought some attitude of their own into a testy rematch Wednesday.

Duncan's slide into second base with his spikes raised touched off a bench-clearing scrum that resulted in two players and two coaches being ejected during the second inning of Tampa Bay's 7-6 victory in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Duncan, who had hinted at the prospect of retaliating for the Rays' Elliot Johnson barreling over New York catcher Francisco Cervelli last Saturday, spiked Iwamura in the right thigh and was tossed.

Gomes was ejected, too, after racing in from right field and ramming into Duncan as other players poured onto the field.

Girardi called the home-plate collision in the first game between the AL East rivals unnecessary. This time it was Rays manager Joe Maddon's turn to denounce rough play not normally associated with exhibition games.

"In Tampa, that play you saw at home plate was a good, hard baseball play. What you saw today was the definition of a dirty play," Maddon said. "There's no room for that in our game. It's contemptible. It's wrong. It's borderline criminal, and I could not believe they did that."

Among New York players, Duncan was the most vocal in his criticism of the collision that broke Cervelli's right wrist, sidelining the Yankees prospect for eight to 10 weeks.

The Yankees first baseman insisted he wasn't trying to injure Iwamura.

"I'm pretty sure the spikes weren't that high. They were pretty much going straight at the glove," Duncan said. "I've done it before. Never had a reaction like that."