The Yankees had just put the finishing touches on another dramatic victory over the Cleveland Indians, an American League powerhouse that could end up in their path in October. But no one was talking about Saturday afternoon’s highlights, including the multiple-home-run performance by Gleyber Torres or the team’s major league-best 15-3 record in August .

The conversation instead centered around a heated argument with the umpires in the bottom of the sixth inning that resulted in the ejections of the Yankees Manager Aaron Boone, C.C. Sabathia and Brett Gardner. This was no ordinary dispute: What started as a back-and-forth with the home plate umpire Ben May after Cameron Maybin was called out on strikes — resulting in Boone’s ejection — quickly escalated as Gardner was tossed by the first base umpire Phil Cuzzi for banging his bat against the top of the dugout.

So enraged was Gardner that he had to be restrained from going after Cuzzi. Gardner was tossed after a similar display of anger in Toronto last weekend and now believes he has “a target on my back,” he said, even though there’s no rule prohibiting such dugout behavior.

“I guess I was ejected for making too much noise. I wasn’t happy about it,” Gardner said following Saturday’s 6-5 win . “Almost on a daily basis I do things to get our guys fired up; I felt it was a big point in the game against a really good opponent. The last thing I’m trying to do is leave that game early.”