Yankees - 9, Red Sox - 0
Q. What did you see that Schlittler and their bullpen did to your lineup over the course of the night?
CHAD TRACY: Cam was obviously awfully good. The fastball shapes are well-documented. He's throwing hard. He also had a good curveball today that you know it's there but he used it a little bit more often. He landed it if he wanted to for strikes. He was able to get it beneath for swing and miss. We weren't able to do much with him.
Q. Why did Roman come out?
CHAD TRACY: The hand. He took a check swing and then another swing and his hand flared on him. And it got uncomfortable, so we had to make a move there.
Q. Seemed like Schlittler threw a lot more curveballs than he has against you in the past. How much did that maybe throw your guys off?
CHAD TRACY: I think his stuff was good regardless, but you're right, he was not just using it more but he was using it very effectively. When you're dealing with a guy like that with the fastball shapes, you're looking to get on heaters and you know he can move it in different directions.
And he used that pitch was able to land it. If he needed it for a strike he was able to bounce it or get it underneath. And it was also a really good pitch. So it was just increased usage with that, and he was landing it and doing it really good job with that pitch.
Q. Using Bello late in the game there, did you feel like you still had a chance if you could have held him there?
CHAD TRACY: I just think we were in a point where the way the game was going along, that if we could try to keep the game there, but also trying to keep guys short as we moved through it.
Obviously we had fallen down by four, and if we can try to keep guys short and stay in the game and still have people online for tomorrow. But obviously the game was getting away from us at that point.
Q. How difficult is Roman Anthony injury? Is he going to imaging or something?
CHAD TRACY: I don't know yet. We're still talking through. The game just ended but it's difficult. Obviously it flares up on him and becomes uncomfortable, and you have to make a move there. So we'll see what the next steps are, but yeah, it was difficult.
Q. What is the comfort level with Sonny going tomorrow, someone who's a veteran, who's seen virtually everything and pushed his way through a lot of adversity over the years?
CHAD TRACY: I think we're very comfortable with all of our starters, the way that they've performed during the course of the season.
So having him out there tomorrow, anytime he's out there, we feel good about it. But having him out there tomorrow, obviously the season's on the line for us, and he can handle that.
Q. On Roman, is that the same part of the hand/wrist that had bothered him all year?
CHAD TRACY: We're still looking through. It seems that way. But they're still assessing it. But same hand, and flared on him and became too uncomfortable.
Q. And on Willson Contreras, what was the feedback from him, how did he look to you at the plate?
CHAD TRACY: I think he was okay with the hand. I didn't read too much into how Willson looked in particular. We had a pitcher out there that we were trying to drag along, not for nothing. We did get the count up, we just fell behind. And once they were able to tack on a second run, you're creeping closer to Blackburn and Bednar.
And, so, Willson specifically, no, I just think we as a group had a tough time with him, that's all.
Q. Is this something that Roman has experienced since he came off the IL, or is this like a sudden unexpected --
CHAD TRACY: Nothing like this, no. He's obviously coming off that; you'll get a zinger every once in a while while you're where you feel something, it's fine, it goes away. But today it was obviously coming out of the game, today some stuff happened that was more serious and was uncomfortable.
Q. What did you see from Payton Tolle tonight?
CHAD TRACY: I thought he threw the ball well. They did an effective job of grinding the count up as well. He had traffic. They put traffic on him. He was able to navigate his way through that. I think he competed extremely well for the time that he was out there and gave us what he could.
I think the number being up there in the mid-80s, still trying to get through five, probably higher than what you normally see with Payton, and to be expected in an environment like this. But I thought he competed his butt off.
Q. The high pitch count, was that why you pulled him when you did?
CHAD TRACY: Not just the pitch count necessarily, but you're trailing already, you're moving through the third time. Rice had already hit a double in the gap off of him, and you have a nice lane there for Miller, and obviously he got him. Just felt like it was the time to go.
Q. You think it would be a stretch for Roman to play tomorrow?
CHAD TRACY: It's hard to say right now. It's one of those things where he obviously was in a lot of discomfort. So we had to remove him. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings.
Q. Bringing in Gamboa when you did, what was the thought process there? And did you consider bringing in a higher-leverage arm just given where the score was at?
CHAD TRACY: Yeah, it's 2-0, obviously, I know that. But Blackburn's in the game, and you also know that they're probably an out or two if they want to of going to Bednar.
If you do one in the seventh, you'll probably have to do one in the eighth, and now you're ripping through back-end guys and you're awfully close to a pretty darned good closer.
So it's difficult, I know, but just felt like doing our best there is still a good lane for Gamby, with lefties. Obviously, that didn't go the way you wanted to.
But keeping as many of those guys online as possible, where we're now in a position where we have to win two games in a row.
But, yeah, I just felt like if you're gonna go with one there in the seventh, you're probably gonna have to do it in the eighth and you're up against it there.
Q. You mentioned the check swing for Roman. Was it in the first or the second?
CHAD TRACY: There were a couple of check swings in each of the at-bats that bothered it. And swinging through the last second at-bat, swinging through, like, after the check swings, he still felt discomfort on the swings.
Q. Just in terms of needing to win back-to-back nights now, what is the challenge of trying to pull that off and manage a staff and having basically no wiggle room there?
CHAD TRACY: Yeah, it's a challenge. That's the, I guess, holistically, the challenge of a three-game series. That's why Tolle was out there. That's why Schlittler was out there trying really hard to get Game 1. You don't. Now you have to win two in a row, so you've got to be aggressive and try to win as many moments as you can because we've got to win two games in a row now to keep the season alive.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports