NEW YORK _ Just call them the New York Savages.
The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays were attempting to cram two games into one day before a storm rolled through the Bronx and the first one was delayed for nearly 90 minutes. Maybe tensions were higher than normal or maybe everyone was already annoyed and ready to play two.
The Yankees won the first game 6-2, but not before manager Aaron Boone managed his way into viral video-stardom thanks to a young umpire.
Home plate umpire Brennan Miller, a seven-year minor league umpire who made his big league debut earlier this season, called an inconsistent strike zone at best from the start of the first game. It wasn't long before the Yankees snapped.
Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the second, Brett Gardner took a questionable called third strike, a 97-mph sinker that missed inside and unloaded in the dugout. Manager Aaron Boone had some choice words for the umpire from the dugout but the umpire wanted no part of it.
Miller ejected the New York manager, prompting him to come out of the dugout and deliver an expletive-filled tirade. Boone feigned sympathy for his tough day at the plate before describing the Yankees as "savages" in the batter's box and telling Miller to "tighten it up" as he clapped his hands in the umpire's face.
The Yankees proved to be exactly that _ savages _ when they rallied for three runs off Yonny Chirinos (8-5) in a decisive fifth inning.
Gary Sanchez broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth when he hit a hard grounder to left to score Aaron Judge. Tampa Bay third baseman Yandy Diaz couldn't handle the 110-mph screamer and Judge scored from third. The rally continued with two outs when Luke Voit snapped a 2-for-18 skid to score Aaron Hicks and Gio Urshela, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored to finished a triple short of the cycle, doubled to score Sanchez and put the Yankees up 5-2. Hicks made it 6-2 in the sixth with a solo shot off Ryne Stanek.
It was Urshela who tied the game in the second with his ninth home run off the season.
The Rays led off the game with back-to-back home runs off Domingo German (12-2). Those two homers would be the only two runs allowed for German, who limited the Rays to four hits, walked two and struck out five to win his third straight decision.
