Blue Jays - 6, Dodgers - 1
Q. The ball to Teo out there in right field, Mookie's throw on the potential double-play ball, the wild pitches, that part of the game, how disconcerting was that to you today?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, you know, you look at giving up bases, it changes kind of the lineup as far as who comes up, and it affects the game going forward. Things certainly get magnified in games like this, especially when you're not swinging the bats.
So I thought tonight Blake pitched a heck of a ball game. But, yeah, giving up bases and not converting outs when you have an opportunity to convert outs, that came back to bite us tonight.
Q. I know the bullpen, obviously, put in a really good performance in Game 3, but in these other games where you've had these mid-game taking the starter out, guys on base, is it fair to say that these bullpen problems you guys have had for a large part of the season are maybe catching up to you in this series?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it's hard because you can only push a starter so much. I thought Blake emptied the tank, and you have an opportunity with the base open, in this situation second base with Vlad up, and I felt Enriquez was the guy to get him out. And you also have a chance to get Bichette out.
I pushed Blake as much as I pushed him all year and, yeah, you look at the three games that we lost, it spiraled on us with guys on base. But guys got to be better. They certainly had a good game in Game 4 or whatever it was. But, yeah, I mean, that's just kind of guys have got to do their jobs. Everyone's got to do their job.
So right now, we're at elimination, and we've got to kind of wipe the slate clean and find a way to win Game 6 and pick up the pieces and see where we're at.
Q. How concerned are you about the offense? The last two games you guys are 10-61, which is .164, and you're also 0 or 6 with runners in scoring position. How concerned are you about that?
DAVE ROBERTS: It doesn't feel great. You clearly see those guys finding ways to get hits, move the baseball forward, and we're not doing a good job of it. I thought Yesavage was good tonight mixing his fastball, slider, and the split. But, yeah, you still have to use the whole field and take what they give you, and if they're not going to allow for slug, then you've got to be able to kind of redirect and down club -- or club down to take competitive at-bats, and you see whether it's Barger or Bichette. You know, those guys are doing it.
But again, we have that ability. We've got to make some adjustments. We have seen Gausman a ton, a lot of our guys have seen him, so we just got to continue to -- I just think we just got to come in fresh, and we've been -- again, like I said, we've been in elimination games, a core group of these guys, and we got to find a way to win a game. That's it.
Q. Can you talk to players individually, especially about hitting, things they might make an adjustment to?
DAVE ROBERTS: The hitting guys talk to 'em, I talk to 'em at times, as far as kind of not giving any of the mechanics, just more of trying to free 'em up to go out there and just compete, and whatever it takes to free these guys up and not try to put too much pressure on themselves because everyone wants to perform. They're all prepared. But, yeah, there's times I try to intervene and try to take a little bit of the anxiety out.
Q. For the first time this postseason your team finds itself with its back against the wall. What are some traits that you've seen from this clubhouse throughout the season that makes you feel confident they will respond appropriately?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think that there's a fight in there, there's a compete that -- I think there's more in there. I know there's more in there. We've won two games in a row, but again, it just comes down to one game. So I think that we have been in a lot of elimination games, and we found a way to come to the other side -- get to the other side.
So I expect Yamamoto to throw well, but we still got to take good at-bats and play -- catch the baseball, convert outs, and if we play a good clean game, I feel good about our chances.
Q. What did you see early going on with Blake's fastball after Vladdy's homer? He avoided it until the final pitch of the second.
DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I thought clearly early they were aggressive to the fastball, Schneider, Vladdy, and then you got the Bichette strikeout on some breaking balls, and I think then he just kind of settled into the game. I honestly thought he threw the ball well. He gave us everything he had, so I think that early on they were just on the fastball, and you got to sort of adjust if that's the case.
Q. Obviously, you changed the lineup up a little bit today and similar results. Where does that leave you going into Game 6 and Game 7 with what the lineup might look like in Toronto?
DAVE ROBERTS: That's a good question. I haven't really had time to think through it. It's kind of whatever I feel is best to take down Gausman. So I'm not sure if it's Mookie in the 2, Mookie in the 3, Freddie in the 3. I'm not sure. But at the end of the day, regardless of who we run out there or what construct, we still got to take good at-bats, all of us. And so that's what I'm betting on. But I haven't really thought yet about the lineup construction.
Q. What disappointed you the most about tonight's game besides the loss? We know the loss, but what about the loss that disappoints you the most?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I thought that there's just giving up some extra bases. I thought just not playing a clean game. I think a hallmark for our ball club is we just don't really give away many outs, we don't give many bases up. I thought tonight we gave up probably three or four bases, and it changes whether -- who comes up, an extra hitter or two that the starting pitcher's got to face, who he's got to face.
So that part of it and just the ability to find some outfield grass, and there was a lot of swing-and-miss tonight, which I think we can get better at.
Q. Earlier in the season Mookie struggled a little bit, got hot again, and now kind of reverting back, maybe that's an accurate thing to say, and even that shaky throw to Edman there. Is everything okay with Mookie?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I mean, physically he's fine. I know he wants to perform and get hits, but he's played great defense, and that was kind of an outlier play. But he's going to be in there in Game 6, I do know that.
Q. On Trey, have you seen the kind of poise from a 22 year old who has only made three starts in the Major Leagues coming into the postseason?
DAVE ROBERTS: A lot of poise. A lot of poise. I don't have to, you know, know anything about him, he's an athlete, fields his position well, has good baseball IQ, holding runners. There's no panic. As you said, there's a lot of poise. And you got to tip your cap to him. Game 1, Game 5 on the road and the way he performed, pretty impressive.
Q. Do you feel like Mookie's probably pressing too much at the plate?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think he's pressing. Hopefully, the off day, find a way to get away from it, and then go out there and just kind of focus on one game and be good for one game, go out there and compete. But I think you can see, you know, there's a little anxiousness in there. But it's not the first time he's struggled, it's not the first time he's faced elimination. And it's not just Mookie, it's everyone that's got to do their part too.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports