New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo explained what he told Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after he got hit by a pitch on Friday.
The rivalry between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays has only heated up, thanks in part to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Blue Jays slugger reiterated on Friday that he doesn’t like the Yankees and he will never, ever sign with them. In the top of the first inning, Guerrero stuck it to his AL East rivals by crushing a two-run homer to left center field. But things got more heated near the end of the game.
In the top of the ninth inning, Guerrero was hit in the left elbow by relief pitcher Greg Weissert and believed it was intentional. As Guerrero stared down the pitcher, Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo confronted him and the two exchanged words. After being separated by umpires, play eventually resumed.
While speaking to the media after the game, Rizzo was asked about what he said to Guerrero during their confrontation. Rizzo said that he was telling Guerrero, “just walk to first base.” The video below comes courtesy of YES Network.
Anthony Rizzo explains what he told Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during confrontation
“I just took exception,” said Rizzo. “I’m just going to back my teammate up, just staring him down like that. It was obviously an accident. I get Vlad’s side of being pissed off at getting hit. I’ve been hit many times.”
Weissert also spoke after the game, explaining the whole situation, where he said that he didn’t intentionally hit Guerrero.
“I was trying to make a pitch and I kind of turn around and didn’t really see what he was doing,” said Weissert. “Just saw him kind of standing there and I don’t really know what he was thinking, but obviously I wasn’t trying to hit him. You guys watched the game, I didn’t have my best stuff tonight and just losing command of the strike zone.”
Guerrero had made a multitude of comments in regards to his hatred towards the Yankees. Last November, he said that he likes to play in New York and to “kill the Yankees.” Then back in January, when asked by a young student who the easiest team to play against was in 2022, he responded with “Yankees,” despite the Blue Jays going 8-11 against them in head-to-head competition.
During his home run trot on Friday, Guerrero put a finger to his mouth to “shush” the fans at Yankee Stadium.
There was already going to be drama for Saturdays’ game, as Gerrit Cole takes on Alek Manoah. Last season, Cole ran out of the dugout and argued with Manoah for hitting Aaron Judge with a pitch. After that game, Manoah challenged Cole to “walk past the Audi sign” if he wanted to do something, in reference to the sponsorship logo painted on the field. Then this past offseason, Manoah called Cole “the worst cheater in baseball history,” in reference to the Spider Tack controversy.
While Rizzo and Weissert say that the hit by pitch wasn’t intentional, it will be interesting to see if there will be some sort of retaliation on Saturday. First pitch will be at 1:05 p.m. ET.
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