NEW YORK — Manager Aaron Boone, Brett Gardner and the New York Yankees again hammered away at the umpires, this time in prolonged rants that brought several members of the team spilling onto the field, while beating the Cleveland Indians 6-5 Saturday.

Gleyber Torres hit two home runs and Didi Gregorius and DJ LeMahieu also connected for the AL East-leading Yankees.

But what really fired up the crowd of 47,347 at Yankee Stadium occurred in the sixth inning after Cameron Maybin was called out on strikes by Triple-A ump Ben May.

For the third time in a month – each time with a minor league call-up umpire behind the plate – the team with the best record in American League lost its temper in a big way. This episode led to Boone, Gardner and pitcher CC Sabathia being ejected.

It also prompted Boone to accuse the umpires of picking on the Yankees.

“Frankly, I think it escalated because they came looking for it,” he said. “Think they were looking for us. It felt like a little bit.”

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Said umpire crew chief Tom Hallion: “There was an ejection of Boone and things then kind of got out of control.”

The pitch to Maybin was, according to strike zone charts, a bit outside. He calmly stood and discussed it with May and went back to the bench.

Moments later, things heated up in a hurry.

Boone came rushing from the dugout to confront May, and engaged in an animated argument. When Boone returned to the bench, all seemed calm – for a moment, anyway.

That’s when Boone came back for another go at May, with crew chief Tom Hallion coming in from second base, trying to quell the beef. But at the same time, several Yankees were hollering from the dugout, engaging in a close-up argument with first base ump Phil Cuzzi.

Gardner was ejected after banging his bat against the dugout roof – it’s become his habit when he gets upset – and then he climbed over the railing to continue to the dispute with Cuzzi. Coaches Phil Nevin, Marcus Thames and Josh Paul also were on the field, holding back Gardner, who was also arguing with third base umpire Todd Tichenor.

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ATHLETICS 8, ASTROS 4: Matt Chapman doubled among his three hits and Mark Canha had two hits and three RBI to back Chris Bassitt’s six solid innings, and host Oakland beat Houston.

The A’s have won four straight games and 11 of their last 16.

RAYS 1, TIGERS 0: Mike Brosseau’s pinch-hit RBI single in the 13th inning drove in Eric Sogard as Tampa Bay won at St. Petersburg, Florida.

MARINERS 4, BLUE JAYS 3: Kyle Seager hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, Austin Nola also went deep, and Seattle won in Toronto.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CUBS 2, PIRATES 0: Kris Bryant homered in the seventh inning, and Chicago got out of three bases-loaded jams to snap a four-game skid with a win in Pittsburgh.

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REDS 6, CARDINALS 1: Aristides Aquino hit a three-run homer, Nick Senzel added a leadoff shot and Cincinnati won at home to drop St. Louis back into a tie with Chicago for first place in the Central Division.

PADRES 5, PHILLIES 3: Dinelson Lamet pitched six solid innings, Ty France hit a tiebreaking single and San Diego won at Philadelphia.

INTERLEAGUE

METS 4, ROYALS 1: Jacob deGrom pitched seven sharp innings and Pete Alonso put New York ahead with a two-run single at Kansas City, Missouri.


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