Blue Jays' Vlad Guerrero Jr. insists he'll never sign with Yankees, then blasts home run off Domingo Germán

The homer was Guerrero's 14th against the Yankees in his career

On Friday night, the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays opened a three-game weekend series at Yankee Stadium, the first of 13 meetings this season between the two AL East rivals. Yusei Kikuchi shut the Yankees down en route to a 6-1 win Friday (box score) that left the two clubs with identical 12-8 records in the early days of the season.

Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made headlines before and during Friday's game. Prior to the game, Guerrero reiterated he would never sign with the Yankees -- "Not even (when I'm) dead," he said in November -- saying this time that "it's a personal thing."

"It goes back with my family, he told reporters, according to MLB.com. "That's my decision, and I will never change that."

That "personal thing" could date back to January 2004, when Vladimir Guerrero Sr. had a contract agreement with Yankees GM Brian Cashman, but George Steinbrenner went over Cashman's head to sign Gary Sheffield instead. Cashman then had to back out of the deal with Guerrero. Vlad Sr. won AL MVP in 2004. Sheffield finished second in the voting.

Anyway, Vlad Jr. talked the talk before Friday's game and he walked the walk during Friday's game. In the first inning, he took Domingo Germán deep for a two-run home run that gave the Blue Jays all the runs they would need in the win.

Guerrero is a career .293/.350/.530 hitter with 14 home runs in 66 career games against the Yankees, including a .296/.353/.600 line with 11 homers in 32 career games at Yankee Stadium. Those 11 home runs are the most by a visiting player in the Bronx since Vlad Jr. made his MLB debut in 2019.

Later in Friday's game, Guerrero took a pitch to the elbow guard from Yankees reliever Greg Weissert, then stared down the pitcher before Anthony Rizzo intervened and Guerrero made his way to first base. "I just think any hitter that gets hit isn't thrilled. It's nothing ... It probably just got away from him," Blue Jays manager John Schneider told MLB.com after the game.

"He just kept staring at Greg, staring at him, and I took exception to that," Rizzo told MLB.com. "He's not trying to hit him there. We're not trying to hit him. Just play baseball. I've been hit many times in this game. Very rarely have I ever stared at someone when I know absolutely it's not intentional at all."

Game 2 of the series Saturday will feature Gerrit Cole vs. Alek Manoah -- Manoah famously called Cole the "worst cheater" in baseball in November, a reference to foreign substances -- and Manoah led baseball in hit batsmen his first two years in the big leagues. He's struggled with his control this year too. If he hits someone Saturday, even unintentionally, things could boil over.

As noted earlier, the Blue Jays and Yankees are an identical 12-8 on the young season. One more Blue Jays win this weekend will give the Yankees their first series loss of 2023. They are the only team to have not lost a series this year.