Detroit 2, Cleveland 1
Q. What about Gavin Williams?
STEPHEN VOGT: He was outstanding. What an unbelievably pitched game we got to watch. Tarik Skubal was outstanding. Punched out 14. Couldn't get anything off of him. Gavin similarly. We gifted him a run in the first.
Gavin was outstanding. Filled up the strike zone, landing breaking stuff, getting swing and miss. That was a well-pitched game by both sides.
Q. Feels like this month you have pitched well, executed well in all facets. Did you feel like there were some moments that you maybe would have liked back defensively?
STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah, of course. The first inning, you can't give the extra 90 feet there. But it happens. And we just couldn't get anything going off Tarik.
Q. How do you balance going into a game like this wanting to get right-handed bats in there versus defense? You guys have 15 position players. There's going to be a lot of mixing and matching. What's the thought process?
STEPHEN VOGT: We need to score. It was a mistake. It was a play that didn't get made. We balance defense with offense all the time. When you're facing Tarik Skubal, you have to score. We weren't able to get anything going.
Q. So, Stephen, you guys have been bouncing back all year. So what's the message?
STEPHEN VOGT: Our backs have been against the wall for three months. What's one more day? Like I said, the way Tarik Skubal threw the ball tonight, I don't know if anybody scores off of him. He was absolutely outstanding. Took a little bit of Guard ball turmoil there just to get one. And really battled. But he was some kind of special today.
Q. More on Skubal. What made him, I guess, especially dominant?
STEPHEN VOGT: His stuff was -- he had everything. The fastball is up around 101. At times, he was hitting his spots. The change-up had a ton of depth. He was landing the slider up and away from the right. He was bouncing it, landed a few curve balls. Like I said, he had everything that he has. That's what big-time pitchers do. Gavin the same.
Q. José did everything he could in the ninth. What did you see on the last play?
STEPHEN VOGT: Yeah. I mean, that ball's two feet either way, he scores. It just happened to go right back to Vest. So we play aggressive. We always do. We run the bases aggressive. I wouldn't play that any other way. You just hope the runner on third less than two, we get a ball in the outfield. We weren't able to do it.
Q. You know A.J. very well. Were you surprised in the seventh that he had McKinstry lay down the bunt?
STEPHEN VOGT: It was the perfect play. We knew it was coming. He laid down an absolutely perfect bunt. If the safety squeeze works, you can't defend it. You lay down a perfect bunt, you cannot defend the safety squeeze. You cannot defend a safety squeeze. We knew it was coming, and it takes a perfect bunt and McKinstry took a cut. It was an absolute perfect bunt.
Q. What do you tell Noel? There's obviously rough moments at first base and charged with an error in the 7th.
STEPHEN VOGT: It was a heck of a frickin' play to knock that ball down. That stuff happens. Our guys have played all year. You make mistakes. You hope it doesn't happen in a game like this, but it's going happen. We're going to bounce back. We've done it all year. We love having our backs against the wall. We'll come out ready and hungry tomorrow and ready to take one.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports