The Yankee Stadium crowd roared, rising to its feet for a measly warm-up pitch in the eighth inning of a game the Yankees were six outs away from losing and reaching the brink of elimination in the ALCS.

But CC Sabathia was trying to prove he could stay in the game with a trainer and Aaron Boone watching on from behind the mound, and what was left of the 49,067 tried to will it from their spots in the stands.

But Sabathia’s body would not cooperate once more. He threw the pitch and immediately knew, walking off the field with trainer Steve Donohue, perhaps for the final time in his star-studded 19-year MLB career, before the Yankees ultimately fell to the Astros 8-3 Thursday night in Game 4.

The 39-year-old Sabathia had been plagued by his balky right knee during the regular season, which called for multiple trips to the injured list. He made it back from the last one in time for the final weeks of September, but then was sidelined by a sore left shoulder after his first appearance as a reliever, the role in which he was going to contribute in the playoffs.

The Yankees had to leave Sabathia off their ALDS roster against the Twins, but his shoulder improved enough to land him on the ALCS roster against the Astros.

It was that same shoulder which forced Sabathia’s exit Thursday night, as he left to a standing ovation and chants of “CC.”

Sabathia came to the Yankees in 2009 and won a World Series in his first season in pinstripes. He was hoping to cap off his career with one more championship, but now the Yankees may have to climb out of their 3-1 ALCS hole without him.

The Yankees could replace Sabathia on the ALCS roster with another pitcher in time for Friday’s Game 5. Stephen Tarpley and Nestor Cortes Jr. are available lefty relievers while right-handers Cory Gearrin and Ben Heller are also eligible.

Sabathia had come on in relief for his second appearance of the ALCS with no outs and two on in the eighth inning and the Yankees trailing 6-3. He got Yordan Alvarez to ground to second with the infield in, but Gleyber Torres could not handle it and a run scored. Sabathia then got a weak pop-up from Carlos Correa before hitting Robinson Chirinos.

After getting Aledmys Diaz to fly out, Sabathia was in the middle of an at-bat by George Springer and had a 1-1 count when his final pitch was a 87 mph cutter for a ball. Boone and Donohue noticed something and popped out of the dugout to tend to him.