Minneapolis ? Beanballs, staredowns, ejections.

If Thursday’s contentious matchup between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians is any indication, it’s going to be one hot summer in the AL Central.

Brad Radke pitched a sparkling three-hitter, and Jason Bartlett’s homer sparked a five-run fifth inning in the Twins’ testy 9-0 victory.

Both benches emptied when Shannon Stewart and Cleveland reliever Jason Davis got into a confrontation near the plate after Stewart scored in the seventh. Davis had hit Stewart with a pitch, but no punches were thrown, and there was no further trouble.

Davis said Stewart bumped into him after scoring the run.

“Getting hit is part of the game,” Davis said. “But those little cheap elbows aren’t. That surprised me. A guy like him … doing something childish like that.”

Stewart said it was incidental contact, and he took exception after Davis jawed in his direction.

“I guess I bumped into him,” Stewart said. “I was already upset about getting hit, and now he’s talking to me? … If I wanted to hit him, I could’ve hit him. We were real close to each other.”

The Twins have had trouble with Davis and the Indians before. Davis was ejected in 2003 along with Twins center fielder Torii Hunter after Hunter took exception to an inside pitch from Davis.

Minnesota's Brad Radke delivers against Cleveland. Radke tossed a three-hitter in the Twins' 9-0 victory Thursday in Minneapolis.

“I don’t know what’s going on with that guy,” Hunter said. “He has no class whatsoever. With the history we have with that guy, it’s sick.”

After Davis plunked Stewart, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire came onto the field to check on him. Plate umpire Ted Barrett then issued a warning to both benches. That got Gardenhire upset, and Barrett ejected the manager, which whipped Gardenhire into a hat-tossing, dirt-kicking frenzy.

“Teddy Barrett did his job,” Gardenhire said. “I know what they’re trying to do, but I think you should think about the history of what he has done to us before. He throws at everybody. He threw at our guy, and he doesn’t give a flying flip. That’s what’s sad about the game — nothing’s going to happen to him, and I might get fined.”

Even the dustup couldn’t overshadow a brilliant performance by Radke (3-3), who struck out eight in his 10th career shutout and 36th complete game. He carried a no-hitter into the fourth before Hunter misjudged a line drive by Victor Martinez that fell for a hit.

Devil Rays 6, Yankees 2

St. Petersburg, Fla. — A pregame meeting didn’t help struggling New York. The team with baseball’s largest payroll dropped its third straight to low-budget Tampa Bay, falling into a tie for last place in the AL East.

Mark Hendrickson pitched effectively into the eighth inning, and Alex Sanchez homered and scored four times for the Devil Rays, who won a series against the Yankees for the first time since September 2002 by taking three of four from the seven-time defending division champions.

Aubrey Huff and Josh Phelps drove in two runs apiece off Chien-Ming Wang (0-1).

Red Sox 2, Tigers 1

Detroit — Bronson Arroyo took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, and David Ortiz’s tiebreaking double in the ninth sent Boston past Detroit.

With two outs, Ortiz hit a line drive to right-center off Ugueth Urbina (0-3) to score Trot Nixon from first, giving the Red Sox their fifth win in six games.