NEW YORK -- Yankees manager Aaron Boone clashed Saturday with another rookie umpire, and this time, veteran crew chief Joe West stepped in.

Boone was ejected by West, umpiring at third base, for arguing balls and strikes during a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

New York slugger Giancarlo Stanton struck out looking at three low strikes from rookie T.J. Zeuch for the final out of the first inning. Stanton argued briefly with plate umpire Jeremie Rehak -- an injury replacement from Triple-A -- before heading back to the dugout.

Boone, meanwhile, shouted profanities from the bench, and West signaled his ejection from across the field. Rehak also booted Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames during the exchange.

"I was just upset within an at-bat where G's coming back and I felt like there were a few in there in his at-bat where it kind of got taken away, so I just got animated," Boone said. "The bottom line is I probably wasn't going to get thrown out from Jeremie. I was starting to walk away and the confrontation happened with Joe."

Boone's interactions with umpires have been well-documented this year, and he's been tossed five times. The most notable was an exchange with rookie ump Brennan Miller in July when TV mics capture Boone repeatedly calling his players "savages." That tirade went viral, and New York players routinely wear T-shirts commemorating the rant.

"I like to think I'm always in control of my emotions," Boone said. "There's times that I'm going to fight and I think it's necessary. As hard as we are on our guys about controlling the strike zone and how much we demand of them in that regard, it's something I'm passionate about and I'm going to fight. I don't want our guys leaving the strike zone."

New York was also peeved with West over his strike zone Friday night, when Brett Gardner argued forcefully after a called strike in the ninth. Boone said that disagreement wasn't a factor Saturday.

ATLANTA -- One year ago, just winning the NL East was enough for the rebuilding Atlanta Braves.

Now manager Brian Snitiker and general manager Alex Anthopoulos expect more.

Even as players celebrated their second straight division title with beer and bubbly on Friday night, focus shifted.

"Our first goal was to win the East and we did, and I think now that's not good enough," Snitker said Saturday. "I think our guys know they're capable of a lot more than that. The goal now is the big prize. We feel like we have a team that can do that. We are deep enough, strong enough. I think that is a realistic goal, not just to want to get in but to win the whole thing."

After Friday night's clinching 6-0 win over the Giants, Anthopoulos stood outside the clubhouse doors while the rowdy celebration continued inside.

The GM didn't allow himself to be sprayed. He was looking ahead to the Division Series starting Oct. 3.

"Kind of by design," Anthopoulos said when asked how he stayed dry. "Hopefully we're doing this after the DS and that's when I'm going to be wet."

The Braves haven't won the World Series since 1995 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, two ballparks ago. They have lost nine straight playoff series since sweeping Houston in the 2001 NL Division Series, including last year's four-game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Atlanta's only regulars in Saturday night's lineup were Ronald Acuna Jr., Josh Donaldson and Dansby Swanson. Others, including Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies, were rested.

Donaldson likely will not start on Sunday. Snitker acknowledged it may be more difficult to hold out Acuna, who is chasing a 40-40 season.

Swanson, however, feels he needs at-bats after missing a month with a foot injury.

"I need to play," Swanson said. "I missed enough time. I'm still looking for ways to kind of find that groove and get back to where I was before. Each day I'm working to get better and I need the at-bats to continue to boost myself in the right direction."

"I told the guys I feel like we knocked on the door last year. Now we're going to try to kick that sucker in." Brian Snitker, Braves manager

Swanson said the offseason additions of Donaldson and catcher Brian McCann plus re-signinh Nick Markakis put the Braves in position to be a more viable postseason contender.

"I think as soon as the season was over last year everyone was excited to come back and get to work," Swanson said. "With the additions of J.D. and Mac and having Nick come back really put us in a good position to really win consistently and to be able to do it in a multitude of ways."

Acuna (41 homers), Freeman (38) and Donaldson (37) have led Atlanta's deep lineup. Freeman's 120 RBIs led the majors entering Saturday's games. Acuna led the NL with 126 runs and 37 stolen bases.

"I told the guys I feel like we knocked on the door last year," Snitker said. "Now we're going to try to kick that sucker in."

World Para Athletics Champs in Dubai is an ideal stepping stone for Tokyo Paralympics, says GB head coach Paula Dunn

British para-athletics head coach Paula Dunn is confident with the squad selected for the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai in November and believes the event will act as a “good stepping stone” toward Tokyo next summer.

The 43-strong team features a mix of more experienced athletes with those making their senior international debuts and Dunn believes that meeting the UK Sport target of 24 to 28 medals would put the squad in good stead ahead of the Paralympic Games in Japan nine months later.

“We’ve gone for a smaller team size knowing that we’re really in the run in now to Tokyo,” the former sprinter explains. “There are 43 athletes selected – a mixture of established athletes, current world champions and some new athletes.

“I see the championships being so close to Tokyo as yes, we want to go out and do well, but it’s definitely a stepping stone toward Tokyo as opposed to this is the final event.”

READ MORE: GB team named for World Para Athletics Championships

While 11 world champions from London two years ago are set to defend their titles – including Jonnie Peacock, Hannah Cockroft and Sophie Hahn – their team-mates Dan Greaves and Georgie Hermitage are missing through injury.

“We made a decision based on where they are in terms of their rehab that Tokyo should be the focus,” Dunn says, as she also highlights the return of 100m and 200m champion Libby Clegg, who will race the T11 200m alongside guide runner Thomas Somers, following the birth of her first baby in April.

“She has come back quicker than we were all anticipating,” adds Dunn on Clegg, “but she wanted to do the championships, again as part of her preparations going into Tokyo.”

Multiple Commonwealth medallist Dunn is also looking forward to the performances of rising stars such as T38 sprinter Thomas Young and T13 long jumper Zak Skinner in Dubai.

“Thomas Young got double gold in Berlin and this is his first world champs so he will be one to watch,” she says.

“Zak Skinner, again, is jumping really well this year. He sustained a bit of an injury so he had to cut his season short but is looking good to go and compete in November.

“We’ve got some exciting young talent and established talent as well. I’m looking forward to seeing them all compete and hopefully achieve their own personal goals.”

SINGAPORE – Charles Leclerc’s impressive Formula One qualifying pace continued on Saturday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as the Monégasque driver earned his fifth pole of the season.

Leclerc lapped the 3.146-mile, 23-turn layout in 1:36.217 with his SF90-Ferrari to top qualifying for the third straight race, tying Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas for the most poles this year.

“It was quite a crazy lap,” Leclerc said. “The first one I compromised it — I started the lap too close to Lewis. I compromised the second sector, so then there was quite a bit of pressure to perform on the last lap.

“I gave it (my) all; there were quite a bit of mistakes. I lost the car a few times and I could see myself in the wall at least two or three times in the lap. But it felt amazing,” Leclerc added. “The car was great. Friday was a very difficult day for me, so to come here and do the pole position feels absolutely amazing.”

Joining Leclerc on the front row will be five-time and defending F-1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who turned a lap of 1:36.408 in Q3 to earn the second starting position, just edging out Leclerc’s teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton is a four-time winner in Singapore, tied with Vettel for the most in event history.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starts fourth on Sunday, with the front two rows covered by less than six tenths of a second on the time sheets.

The second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas completed the top five.

Starting sixth will be Alexander Albon in the sister Red Bull entry, ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, the Renault pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, and the second McLaren of Lando Norris.

The two Haas F1 Team cars struggled mightily on Saturday, both failing to make Q3. Kevin Magnussen grids up 14th and Romain Grosjean starts 18th for F-1’s only night race.

BROWNSBURG, Ind. – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Saturday that the team has exercised its contract option on NTT IndyCar Series driver Takuma Sato, retaining him for the 2020 season.

Sato first joined the team in 2012 and returned in 2018. He has earned five wins in the series to date, three of which have come with RLL.

The 2020 season will be Sato’s third consecutive with RLL and fourth overall.

Sato earned his second win of the season, and fifth overall in the series, in the Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Aug. 24.

Other season highlights include a win from pole in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, the pole for the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway and third-place finishes at both the Indianapolis 500 and the first Dual in Detroit.

“We have been very pleased with the results and level of competition Takuma has shown this season,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. “His two wins and two poles don’t fully indicate how competitive he has been overall this season and the fact that he was a contender at many other races. He is an integral part of our team which I believe we have shown. This decision allows us to keep the continuity and continue to build upon our program for 2020.”

“I am very happy to continue our path together again after this season,” added Sato. “Every single member of the team is extremely loyal and have given me unbelievable support. I truly feel at home here and I am so proud of the team. We have had another great season this year and even had some tough times but it only made our relationship stronger. I can’t thank Bobby, Mike, David and entire team enough and I am looking forward to finishing the season strong and also looking forward to 2020.”

Sato, a native of Tokyo, Japan, has made 168 starts in the IndyCar Series since his rookie season in 2010. His Indy car highlights include wins in the 2017 Indianapolis 500, 2013 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, 2018 Portland Grand Prix, 2019 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and the 2019 Bommarito 500 at Gateway, with three of the five coming with RLL.

Of his 12 Indy car podium finishes to date, eight have come with RLL and he has earned nine Indy car poles, two of which are with RLL.

Prior to joining the IndyCar Series, Sato competed in 90 Formula One races between 2002-2008, with his highest finish of third coming at the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

JACKSON, Miss. - Ben An kept his 36-hole lead when the second round of the storm-delayed Sanderson Farm Championship was finished Saturday morning.

An had to play 25 holes on Friday and posted two rounds of 6-under 66. He was at 12-under 132, making this the second time in two months he has had a 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour. An finished third at the Wyndham Championship the last time he was in this position.

He was two ahead of Scottie Scheffler (66), George McNeill (67), Tom Hoge (70) and J.T. Poston (70).

Cameron Percy had a chance to join the group at 10-under 134 until he made bogey on the 18th hole Saturday morning.

The third round was played in threesomes off both tees to get the tournament back on schedule.

VIRGINIA WATER, England – It’s 1,131 yards of claustrophobic chaos that annually makes any round on Wentworth’s West Course a study in diminishing returns.

It’s a rarity in golf, at least golf at the professional level, to finish a round with back-to-back par 5s – and conventional wisdom suggests the birdie opportunities would create one-way traffic. But as three days of trial and error have proven, Wentworth’s finish is not a pushover.

For every Ross Fisher, who holed his second shot from 225 yards on the 18^th hole for an albatross on Saturday at the BMW PGA Championship, there’s a Jon Rahm, who was cruising along with a two-stroke lead when he reached the penultimate tee.

“Besides the last two holes, actually, besides basically the last seven strokes, really, the rest of the round was almost bulletproof,” Rahm explained.

Actually, it took the Spaniard, who was 5 under for the day through 16 holes, 11 strokes to play the last two frames, but his point is valid. It all started with a wild drive into the trees left of the 17^th fairway that led to a bogey and ended with a 10-footer for par on the 18^th hole.

“I mean, I'm not even asking for birdies,” Rahm pleaded. “There's two pars, and having a one-shot lead, but still, it's a lot of golf to come.”

Instead, Rahm will start the final day at the European Tour’s flagship event tied with Danny Willett, who rebounded from a bogey at No. 15 with a birdie at the 17^th hole for a share of the lead.

But then, neither Rahm nor Willett had as much of a rollercoaster ride on the finishing tandem as Justin Rose. He eagled the 17^th hole to move to 13 under and into third place just behind the front-runners. “Seventeen was awesome. Felt like I was really in the tournament,” the Englishman said.

In many ways what happened next is a microcosm of Rose’s round, with a bogey at the last to drop him a field goal off the lead.

“I thought I did everything right on 18, too. It's frustrating,” Rose lamented. “That green is so severe. It's kind of why I didn't go for it yesterday and I was in between clubs and I was a little in-between clubs today and I thought the pin on the left, if I did miss right it wasn't the end of the world.”

What should, at least for professionals, be a golden opportunity to make up ground late in a round is in fact one of the most challenging finishes on the European Tour and one of the most unique finales in golf. No regular stop on the PGA Tour finishes with back-to-back par 5s.

“Those par 5s, you can make up a lot of ground or it can bite you in the butt,” said Billy Horschel, who is playing the BMW PGA for the first time this week. “I've seen guys make doubles on 17 and 18, and some guys make eagle, eagle or birdie, eagle. It allows a great opportunity where you are coming in Sunday to either make up shots or possibly lose a lot of ground.”

There are those like Fisher, who is 4 under par on Nos. 17 and 18 for the week, who make the most of the opportunity; and then there are those like Rory McIlroy, who is 2 over on the two finishers after closing his round on Thursday double bogey-bogey.

“I hung in there. I made some good pars when I may have put myself out of position. And then I took advantage of most of the par 5s which was good,” said McIlroy who finally got on the board at Nos. 17 and 18 with a birdie at the 17^th hole on Saturday.

These wild swings of fortune are one of the reasons why Wentworth annually produces some of the European Tour’s most drama-filled finishes. Last year it was Francesco Molinari who needed to get up and down for par from the fringe on No. 18 for victory. Even more impressive was the 2014 championship, when McIlroy rallied from seven strokes back with a closing 66 that included birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 for a one-stroke victory.

The Northern Irishman, who is currently nine shots off the lead, will need an even more magical finish this time.

“I'm a realist and I know I won from seven back a few years ago, and I feel like that's something that happens maybe once in your career. Maybe try to make it twice,” he said.

At least a half dozen others are probably imagining a similar finish on Sunday at Wentworth where the chamber of commerce weather is poised to become more of a “proper” English summer. But it won’t be the weather that dictates the outcome, it will be the West Course’s 1,131 yards of closing chaos.

Essex 160 for 5 (Delport 55, Reece 2-24) beat Derbyshire 126 (Harmer 4-19, Nijjar 3-26) by 34 runs

Simon Harmer hadn't had a particularly rewarding Blast season. Unstoppable in the Championship, he had generally become a mere mortal over 20 overs. Then Derbyshire, in their first T20 Finals Day, had to contend with him on a turning Edgbaston pitch and the story changed as his destructive display pointed Essex towards a comprehensive victory and added another satisfying memory to an outstanding summer.

Harmer has been Essex's Championship showstopper: his 78 wickets at 18.12 are the prime reason why they have a title showdown with Somerset at Taunton next week. As Essex's captain in the Blast, however, he had mustered 10 wickets all season and disappeared for nine an over. He was just another player hoping that Edgbaston might look favourably upon him.

All that changed in a second semi-final in which Derbyshire succumbed meekly on a turning surface, falling 34 runs short of Essex's challenging 160 for 5. They didn't play spin particularly well, and a couple of their dismissals could fairly be described as naïve, but when it comes to facing Harmer they are not alone in that charge.

Harmer finished with 4 for 19, his tranquillity never threatened, and he had quite an ally, too, in Aron Nijjar, a 24-year-old left-arm spinner from Romford, who had the onerous task of replacing the modish Australian leggie Adam Zampa on Finals Day in only his second Twenty20 match, conceded 14 runs in his first four balls, but lived to tell a glorious tale as Essex won a T20 semi-final at the fifth attempt.

Harmer and Nijjar took three wickets apiece in the space of 58 balls, five of them hitting the stumps. When the sixth batsman to perish, Alex Hughes, was lured down the pitch by Nijjar and stumped, so fell Derbyshire's top-scorer, on 23. There was another wicket for a spinner, too, when Dan Lawrence bowled Fynn Hudson-Prentice.

Harmer's first ball jolted Derbyshire, their captain, Billy Godleman, the second batsmen to fall as he turned one sharply to hit the left-hander's off stump. He repeated the dose in his third over against Leus du Plooy, another left-hander, another delivery that turned big. Next ball, Anuj Dal, determined to use his feet, ran at one and was bowled through the gate. His last wicket was Daryn Smit, who tried to reverse sweep him past two fielders at backward point, the most befuddled shot of all.

"I'm used to seeing the ball disappear so it's nice to bowl on something that suits me," Harmer said. Essex started their Blast campaign in the South Group so badly that they have essentially been playing knockout cricket for six matches, knowing that one more defeat would be fatal, and the knowledge has improved them.

Nijjar will attract less attention, but his contribution was, in a way, all the more remarkable because he had not bowled a single delivery in Essex 1st XI cricket all season. His last game of note was a 2nd XI match against Hampshire at Southampton in the first week of August. When Wayne Madsen sniffed vulnerability and struck him for 4-6-4 in his first four balls, things looked ominous; for him to then bowl Madsen round his legs, trying to sweep, was a crucial response.

Derbyshire were the last of the 18 counties to reach Finals Day and for all but the most committed follower of county cricket they could hardly have been more of an unknown quantity. Names did not as much trip off the tongue as go clean out of the mind. Obscurity, for a few hours at least, was in vogue. A side that reached the final stages by toppling Lancashire at Old Trafford were clearly capable of being better than the sum of their parts, and they will be deflated by their display.

Essex took command with an opening stand of 78 in 8.1 overs, Cameron Delport the dominant factor. His 55 from 31 balls gave him 408 runs for the tournament and the highest strike rate, at 172.15, of any of the 13 batsmen who had passed that 400-run mark. He might have fallen early, a leg-side swing against Logan van Beek falling safely when he was only 6, but his strokeplay became increasingly daunting until he deposited Hughes to long-off.

Once Delport had been silenced, Derbyshire shook themselves down and gradually got back into the match on a grippy surface that suited their medium-paced mix. Lawrence, who has grown into the T20 format this season by adopting a more aggressive approach, made little impact as he carved Hughes' knuckle ball to third man; Ryan ten Doeschate, lbw to Luis Reece's offcutter, also missed out.

Tom Westley, Delport's opening partner, played the other innings of substance, 39 from 34 balls, although he, too, had fortune on his side, on 13, when van Beek failed to throw him out from mid-on. Westley's departure to Reece at deep backward square leg preceded a problematic finish for Essex as they failed to find the boundary for 37 deliveries, from Ravi Bopara's third-man dab off Reece to Adam Wheater's square drive four balls from the end when Ravi Rampaul narrowly missed his yorker.

Bopara has crabbed all season about batting as a finisher at No. 6, and who found himself up at five for Finals Day. His scoring rate in the closing overs has been spectacular, justifying his place in the order, but it was a more restrained Bopara (28 from 23 balls when a ramp shot went awry) who guided then to 160 for 5. It was easily enough.

Billy Godleman suggested the Edgbaston pitch had offered "excessive turn" and bemoaned his side's failure to adapt to conditions after losing their T20 Blast semi-final against Essex.

Derbyshire lost eight wickets to spin - four to Simon Harmer, three to Aron Nijjar and one to Dan Lawrence - and struggled badly in the middle overs after flying out the blocks, and Godleman suggested that "the better team won" on the day.

"There was excessive turn," he said, "which obviously provides challenges for hitting boundaries, but our job as professionals is to adapt to whatever conditions we're given, and try to find a way to be effective.

"Unfortunately for us, Essex were a lot better at that today than we were."

Godleman said that he was "slightly concerned" at the interval after Essex had posted 160 for 5 - the highest total across the two semi-finals - and that his side had conceded an above-par total.

"I thought the way that Alex [Hughes], Matthew [Critchley], and Luis [Reece] bowled," he said, "taking pace off in the middle, I could see that it would be difficult against their spinners in the second half of the game. I thought anything over 140 would be difficult."

But Godleman reflected that his side had come a long way in the past three seasons, which have all been under the stewardship of specialist T20 coaches - first John Wright, and then this season Dominic Cork.

"We're very proud, very happy with the accomplishment of making it to Finals Day. It's obviously bittersweet - you get here, you're part of the day, it's such a great atmosphere, and you just think 'win two games and we'll lift the trophy'.

"I think once these 24-48 hours pass by, the real context of what we've done as a club, playing with only one overseas player, giving opportunities to a lot of our talented homegrown cricketers, and being able to beat a lot of the big counties home and away, make it to Finals Day - we're really proud."

Godleman suggested that his side had taken plenty from their quarter-final loss to Hampshire in 2017, and said that in the future he hoped they would reflect on this defeat as something to learn from in the future.

"Two years ago, we made a quarter-final and got beaten quite badly by Hampshire," he said. "This year, we made a quarter-final, we won it convincingly, and some of the guys who played in the defeat to Hampshire a few years ago really gained from that experience.

"Hopefully next year, or in the next 24 months, we can make another Finals Day and draw upon this experience."