The Yankees were savages in the box in both games of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Rays at Yankee Stadium. Just ask Aaron Boone.
It was much as they have been all season.
Boone made that point to young umpire Brennan Miller in Game 1 and was tossed for his second-inning outburst, which was filled with expletives, after Miller’s called strike on DJ LeMahieu and after Brett Gardner had been called out on strikes.
Gardner rammed his bat 10 times into the shelving where the helmets are stored and another eight times into the roof of the dugout in frustration, while standing right behind Boone.
Boone then went for the verbal fireworks and was ejected for the third time this season and also made contact with the bill of the umpire’s cap with his own cap.
Boone screamed at the young ump, “My guys are f—ing savages in that f—ing box … Tighten this s- -t up!’’
By the time the Yankees “savages’’ were done beating up on Rays starter Yonny Chirinos, they were up 5-2 on the way to a 6-2 victory in the first game. They turned super savage in the nightcap, batting around and putting up four runs in the sixth inning against Charlie Morton for a 5-1 victory and the sweep to move eight games ahead of the second-place Rays in the AL East.
This race is over. What did Boone’s tirade do for the Yankees?
“It shows us he is in the trenches with us,’’ Aaron Judge told The Post. “That is what you want to see out of the guy leading the team. It fired us up.’’
In that first game, Gio Urshela led the hit parade with a two-run, opposite field home run in the second inning and an RBI single in the three-run fifth.
In the second game, Luke Voit homered in the fifth and then Morton, who came into the night with a stellar 11-2 record and 2.35 ERA, was kicked to the curb by the Yankees in the bat-around sixth, which featured a two-run single by Didi Gregorius.
Pure savage.
Tensions were high in Game 1 after a 1-hour 26-minute “rain delay,’’ when not one drop of rain fell.
The Yankees control the Rays because they have more firepower. They scored six runs in the eighth Tuesday night after breaking out of their mini-slump.
They are 23-7 against the AL East since May 19 as they dominate the division, making sure they will not have to endure a wild-card game this postseason.
That has been the goal since Day 1 of spring training.
Not to have to play in a wild-card game takes a huge burden off a team in October. It can set up its pitching for the first postseason series and move ahead.
It worked for the Red Sox last season and the Yankees are taking control just like Boston took control in 2018. Boone has led the charge and has shown the fire the Yankees need this year to get to first place.
Boone said his hitters are all about controlling the strike zone, and the manager’s aggressive defense of his hitters shows the Yankees how much he backs them and that he is much more in tune with his team than he was a year ago.
When I asked Boone what it means to be a savage in the box, he said: “Controlling the strike zone and make it hard on the pitcher all the time and that’s something those guys take a lot of pride in as a lineup. You may have had your way with us, you may have success against us but I want you to feel us and they take that on every game and it usually serves them well.’’
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With Aaron Boone blistering an overmatched umpire’s ears in the…
The young ump, who was not part of the crew in Game 2, certainly felt Boone.
Aaron Hicks also homered in Game 1, and with Voit’s shot in Game 2, the Yankees have hit 10 home runs in their past four games. They are a major league-best 39-5 when hitting multiple home runs in a game and have the Rays’ number in that department, too, having hit multiple home runs in 10 of the past 12 games against the Rays.
That’s savage.
That is what Boone was screaming about when he says his guys are savages in the box. He’s not just making a loud point, he is telling the story of these 2019 Yankees.
Be savage.
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