NEW YORK – No active big leaguer has hit as many pitches as Anthony Rizzo. 205 in his career knows the intense emotions that accompany bumps, bruises, and boils.
But when he caught Vladimir Guerrero Jr. staring down at rookie Greg Weissart in the Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday, Rizzo said he’d be on the receiving end of an American League East rivalry. A message that kicked off a season of new and heated rivalry: “Walk to first base.”
“He just stared at Greg, except for me,” Rizzo said. “He’s not trying to attack him there. We’re not trying to hit him. We’re just playing baseball. I’ve been hit many times in this game. That’s totally unintentional.” Rarely have I stared at someone when I knew perfectly well.”
A 92.9 mph first pitch sinker hit the slugger right in the left elbow, causing Weissart’s Guerrero plank in the ninth inning when the game appeared to be decided.
Guerrero, who homered early in the contest and singled, dropped his bat and glared at Weissert. Seemingly oblivious to Guerrero’s focus on him, Weissart received the new ball and turned his attention to center field.
“I’m not sure what he was thinking, but he clearly wasn’t trying to hit him,” Weissert said. “I didn’t have the best tonight.”
Rizzo came to his teammate’s defense and caught Guerrero’s attention along the first base line. Home plate umpire Adrian Johnson stepped in between Rizzo and Guerrero, and both managers briefly appeared on the field, opening the bullpen gate, but the situation did not escalate.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said: “There was no commotion.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider echoed similar thoughts, saying he believed Weissart was out of control.
“His sinker works like crazy,” Schneider said. ”
The past few seasons have been a tense exchange between the Yankees and the Blue Jays. The situation is similar to the incident on August 21 last year when Toronto ace Alec Manoa slammed Aaron his judge on the pitch and gesticulated loudly and joked at the Yankees bench, especially Gerrit his call to the mound. reminiscent.
Manoa later said that Cole “can walk past the Audi sign if you want to do something.” [sprayed on the grass] next time. ” Coincidentally, Cole and Manoa will start facing each other on Saturday.
“They play their game, we play our game,” says Rizzo. “They are a good team and we are a good team. Naturally, I think the intensity will always be high.”
Weissert praised Rizzo’s performance and said: Everyone has their backs, and I appreciate that.
Fireworks in the second half added spice to the home team’s sleepy affair.Oswaldo Cabrera hit his first home run of the season into the short porch in front of right field, but the Bombers’ at-bat was Yusei Kikuchi and three relievers. kept quiet by
Boone said, “We had some chances there, but other than that we didn’t really get to rally much.” [Kikuchi] You did a pretty good job of mixing.
Guerrero, who reiterated before Friday’s game that he enjoyed playing against the Yankees and never thought of wearing pinstripes, hit a two-run homer in the first inning by dangling Domingo German’s curveball. released and provided the necessary margin of victory.
“After that I was more consistent and mechanically able to make some adjustments so I could get deeper into the game,” Gelman said through an interpreter. Afterwards, I definitely felt I executed a more consistent pitch.”
Gelman calmed down and retired the Blue Jays for the 12th straight inning in the first stretch, but then hit a two-run homer off Brandon Belt in the sixth. Albert Abreu allowed Bert a two-run double in the eighth inning that was nearly caught by the ball judges.
“We’re kind of grinding right now,” Boone said. “
