MINNEAPOLIS — A rambunctious seventh inning saw both teams' catchers and managers ejected in separate incidents by home-plate umpire Todd Tichenor, in the space of perhaps 10 minutes.

Jason Varitek and Terry Francona were tossed for the Red Sox, and Mike Redmond and Ron Gardenhire for the Twins — yet the umpire's crew chief said Tichenor acted appropriately, and that the managers did as well, protecting their players.

"He handled it the way I like to see a person handle it," said Jerry Layne. "He didn't let the game get out of control by not taking charge. He didn't throw anybody out that didn't deserve to be thrown out. He did his job. The managers did their jobs."

Josh Beckett appeared to initiate the incident that got Varitek and Francona thrown out. After Tichenor missed a clear strike-two call to Brendan Harris, Beckett barked something at Tichenor.

"Yeah, I said something. It was uncharacteristic by me, and it was all caused by me," Beckett said.

He wouldn't go into any detail into what, exactly, he said.

"Just some baseball terms . . . you can't write it, you can't [broadcast] it, so there's no reason to elaborate," Beckett said.

Whatever it was, it caused Varitek to leap up and start talking to Tichenor, clearly trying to get between the ump and the pitcher. Francona ran in from the dugout, trying to defend Varitek before Tichenor ejected him — but it was too late.

"Tek's protecting Beckett, I'm protecting Tek," said Francona. "He got Tek, and that's what I didn't want to have happen. I wasn't fast enough to get out there in time. I'd rather him throw me out than Tek. He's going to have a heck of a lot more to do with the outcome than I will."

Varitek was gone quickly, but Francona and Tichenor argued for a moment before Tichenor tossed Francona, too.

"How an umpire handles it goes a long way towards what gets said next. Obviously, I didn't agree with what he said," Francona said.

The Boston ejections came on the heels of Tichenor's tossing Redmond and Gardenhire in the top half of the inning on a play at home plate.

Jeff Bailey was on third base, and ran home to score on a Dustin Pedroia fly out to right. He raced home from third, and on an extremely tight play, slapped his hand on home plate just as catcher Mike Redmond applied the tag to his left arm. Bailey was called safe, prompting Redmond to leap up and scream incredulously.

Redmond was ejected almost immediately.

"I couldn't believe he threw me out, honestly," Redmond said. "I don't go out there, ever, to get thrown out. Especially knowing that [the Twins' first-string catcher, Joe Mauer, was] DHing. I can't get thrown out [if Mauer's in the game as DH]. I really can't get thrown out. I didn't swear at him. I didn't do anything. He just had a short fuse, I guess."

Manager Ron Gardenhire then came out to back his player and it took him roughly a minute of jawing with Tichenor before he too was tossed.

"I just thought he had a quick gun there," Gardenhire said. "He just pulled the trigger too quick, and I went out to defend and he threw me out, too."

Layne said no contact was made between Redmond and Tichenor, and that Gardenhire was just protecting his player.

"I think it was an emotional time. I think the emotion of the game came into play. I think that's what happened on [Gardenhire's ejection]. Ron's a great manager and he's going to protect his players and do whatever he has to do to do his job," Layne said.

Bailey said he wasn't sure if he was safe or out

"I could just sense the ball bearing down on me, so I decided to stay on the outside and try to get my hand in there, and that turned out to be the best thing," Bailey said.

Regardless, it was certainly memorable — and bizarre.

"I don't think I've ever even seen four guys tossed out of the same game, unless there was a fight," Bailey said.

Gardenhire's ejection was the 43rd of his career, and the second of the season. Francona's was his 26th, 24th as a manager, and his second of the year.

dbarbari@projo.com