Padres 3, Cubs 0
Q. A number of really good at-bats today. I was wondering about TatÃs at-bat before Manny and then you go into Manny's unleashing sone.
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, no, absolutely. I thought the at-bat quality yesterday was really high as well. Not as much to show for it.
Again, at-bat quality fantastic. You hit the nail on the head with Tati getting a start in the first inning and then later a tremendous at-bat and then Manny does his thing, puts a beautiful swing on it to give us a little bit of cushion there for sure.
Q. Obviously it's the postseason; you rode your relievers today. What did you think about Morejon doing more than he did, Miller, Suarez?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, clearly they were tremendous, back-against-the-wall scenario. I'm sure we'll get to Dylan, but Dylan deserves a lot of credit for getting us to where he got to and then Adrian came in and was just outstanding, really fantastic. Really had a good idea we wanted to take him through from Armstrong through Tucker.
The key to that was the efficiency of it. Adrian has been able to be really efficient this year. Clearly the outs helped. Then Miller picked up right of Suzuki, and he was fantastic to grab that seventh clean inning, and we were starting to figure it out and it was starting to be a little bit of a push but gave him the benefit of the doubt with Busch.
But he did a tremendous job from there, I think eight consecutive strikeouts in postseason from yesterday as well, so that speaks for itself, pretty impressive. 104, we like that. Suarez was tremendous to bring it home.
It was just a really nice baseball game on the Padres' side. Both sides really. It was a good baseball game.
Q. Were you surprised with a base open in that situation they pitched to Manny?
MIKE SHILDT: Listen, I've got my hands full with my own club. I can't be thinking about anybody else's strategy or not.
Yeah, we just think about managing our own club.
Q. A follow up to your bullpen, what do you feel like collectively has been behind their ability just to really shut down the Cubs' lineup to top to bottom?
MIKE SHILDT: Well, I think it starts with ability. We've got really, really plus arms back there. Listen, I want to be able to elaborate on that because if you're going to pitch in the Big Leagues, especially now, you're going to have a plus arm. We had fire coming out everywhere around this league.
One of the separators for our group, the guys were on display today, Morejon, Miller, Suarez, but also Estrada, Peralta, Morgan, Bradgley showing that, is the ability to trust their stuff and be aggressive. All these guys are really special with their arm talent, Morejon, Miller, Suarez, but the impressive thing is they have pitches. They're pitching, and they're not going to make a situation bigger than it is.
That says a lot for them. It's a separator.
Q. On those back-end arms, a lot of pitches today. Any limitations at all tomorrow or all hands on deck?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I mean, listen. I mean, Morejon and Miller have gone back-to-back days. Both got extended today. Morejon is still efficient, but 33 pitches. Miller in the 30s for two games combined. I would have an expectation that all hands are on deck tomorrow, but we're also going to take their temperature and be smart. We've got to value their careers as well.
But we've also been -- we've only had two guys go three days in a row all year, and we've done it and saved it for these circumstances. Obviously in an elimination game, there's special circumstances.
Q. Kind of a cliche a player like Manny in a big moment, that's what he's supposed to do. It has been kind of a grind for Manny for a couple months, but if you could just speak to him coming through in that moment because you guys really needed it.
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, listen, he's Manny Machado. He's heading in a great direction in his career. I liked his swings all the way towards the end of the season. He was starting to get his groove.
I just liked the way, including yesterday, including today, you just see him be that nice at ease and try to put a good swing, not try to do too much. When Manny is in that spot, it's a lethal spot.
Q. Besides your overall confidence in him, you talked about giving the benefit of the doubt to Miller against Busch based on what he did today, based on how he was going in that moment?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, he was going, he was on 25 pitches. Let him finish it. Maybe Suarez will have a clean inning the next inning. You knew he was towards the end. Stuff was still crisp. Just a balancing act.
Q. You mentioned Dylan; what did you see from him and how valuable was he for you guys today?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I thought Dylan was tremendous. Big stuff, crisp, going where he wanted to, slider was where he wanted to go. Knuckle curve, curveball was really -- you know, created some doubt, too, and threw all three for strikes.
We knew in a 1-0 game that we were going to look to go to the bullpen. The key for me -- there was a couple keys, but the primary one was to start the fourth. Once you got Happ and Tucker, it's like, all right, now we have a plan to be able to -- he can take Suzuki, and of course, he hits a double and we did what we did with Carson. But to get to Morejon in the lane that we liked him in, but he got us to that point, and he did a fantastic job. He had electric stuff.
Q. Not to say that your job is easy, I know it is tough to do, but what Morejon has done all year included today, the efficiency, how much easier does that make it where he tends to kind of allow you to decide when he's going to come out?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, no, listen, when guys are efficient and do the job, it makes everybody look good, right? Let's not kid ourselves.
But no, he's been fantastic all year. We put him into lanes, but he fits in more of the lefty lane, but today we knew he was going to grab Armstrong and then grab Swanson and Shaw and deal with Hoerner and a right-handed Happ. We trust him with anybody, but his efficiency is really -- it's what you put him out there for, but he rewards it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports